Department for Work and Pensions

Health and Safety Executive

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 226915, on which dates in the last 12 months the Minister for Welfare Reform met officials of the Health and Safety Executive; and what issues were discussed at each meeting.

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 226915, on which dates in the last 12 months the Minister for Disabled People met officials of the Health and Safety Executive; and what issues were discussed at each meeting.

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 226915, which specific issues have been discussed by which Ministers on which dates in the last 12 months.

Mr Mark Harper: We do not disclose details of meetings between Ministers and Officials.

Diesel Fuel: Health Hazards

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the health problems caused by exposure to diesel fumes at work.

Mr Mark Harper: Occupational exposure to Diesel Engine Exhaust Emissions (DEEEs) is subject to the provisions of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). These provisions require employers to prevent exposure to hazardous substances or, where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately control it. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance for both employers and employees, giving practical advice on how employers should control exposure to DEEEs in the workplace. HSE is also undertaking research to better understand the current exposure profile of workers in GB, including assessing the impact of changes in fuel and engine technology on occupational exposures to DEEEs.

Radiation: Health Hazards

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has produced on the prevention of health problems caused by exposure to solar radiation at work.

Mr Mark Harper: Guidance on the prevention of health problems caused by exposure to solar radiation at work can be found on the following page of the Health and Safety Executive’s website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/occupational-disease/cancer/solar-radiation.htm”

Carcinogens

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the cost to the UK economy of carcinogen exposure at work.

Mr Mark Harper: HSE currently publish estimates of the total cost to the economy of occupational injuries and ill health arising from current working conditions. These totals do not include the costs of long latency diseases, such as occupational cancer, which are due to past working conditions. To address this gap, HSE is currently finalising estimates of the economic costs of occupational cancer in Great Britain. This research will value the impacts to individuals, employers, taxpayers and society as a whole from cases of work-related cancer diagnosed each year, and these estimates will be the first of their kind in the world. HSE will publish the results of this research in summer 2015.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average duration is to date spent claiming jobseeker's allowance by people who have returned to Jobcentre Plus after being on the Work Programme for two years.

Esther McVey: The information as requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Dame Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will direct Jobcentre-plus districts to address the geographical variations in the distribution of jobseeker's allowance sanctions as set out in the report by Crisis entitled Benefit sanctions and homelessness: a scoping report, published March 2015.

Esther McVey: We deploy a comprehensive monitoring regime to check that sanctions are applied appropriately across our network. Where any site is making significantly more or fewer referrals, an independent team reviews their activity to ensure sanctions are being applied appropriately.

Work Programme: Blackpool

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of recipients of employment and support allowance referred to the Work Programme in (a) Blackpool South constituency and (b) Blackpool local authority area moved into sustained employment in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013, (iii) 2014 and (iv) 2015.

Esther McVey: The information showing the number of Work Programme Referrals, Job Outcomes and Sustainment Payments, up to December 2014, by various geographies can be found at:http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html Guidance for users can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Social Security Benefits: Greater London

Dame Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker's allowance (JSA) sanctions there were per 100 JSA claimants in each London borough in the latest period for which figures are available.

Esther McVey: Information on the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) sanctions, by various geographies, is available and published at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm Claimant count JSA figures are published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk These figures will enable the information requested to be estimated.

Work Capability Assessment: Blackpool

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people appealed against a work capability assessment decision in (a) Blackpool South constituency and (b) Blackpool local authority area since the introduction of such assessments; and how many and what proportion of those appeals were successful.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested is not available by constituency or local authority. The latest published data for Work Capability Assessments was released on the 12 March 2015. ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments: claims made to June 2014 and appeals to Dec 2014 - Publications - GOV.UK

Occupational Pensions

Dr Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy that trustees of defined benefit pension schemes are required to have a policy on stewardship.

Steve Webb: We are currently consulting on potential changes to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005 which will support and encourage trustees of both defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes to consider their approach to stewardship. This forms part of our consultation, entitled “Consultation on changes to the Investment Regulations following the Law Commission’s report ‘Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries’” which was published on 26th February 2015. The consultation period ends on 20th April 2015 and it is the intention that a Government response will be published later this year.

Unemployment: Veterans

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what arrangements have been made to train Jobcentre staff to deal with the needs of claimants who have left the armed forces.

Esther McVey: All Jobcentre staff are trained to support customers whatever their needs, including those who have left the armed forces, and are aware of the specialist help available within their area. Armed Forces champions have also been put in place as part of Jobcentre Plus’ commitment to supporting the Armed Forces, their families and veterans. The key role of the champions is to ensure the support, advice and guidance offered by Jobcentre Plus reflects the needs of service leavers and the wider armed forces community in their district, and to ensure Jobcentre staff have the information they need to best support claimants who have left the Armed Forces.

Children: Maintenance

Dame Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy, in respect of past interim maintenance assessments, that only that proportion of resultant child maintenance arrears  which is deemed to be collectable will be transferred to the Child Maintenance Service.

Steve Webb: The Department is currently defining its detailed policy and processes for validating historic arrears, including those accrued from an Interim Maintenance Assessments (IMA). The intention is that IMA debt will be addressed in order to reduce the amount that will be managed by the Child Maintenance Service. Our detailed approach is under consideration.

Pensions

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to review the ability of pensions schemes to indirectly invest in companies linked with the manufacture of cluster munitions.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent representations he has received from the pensions industry on investment in companies linked with the manufacture of cluster munitions.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the indirect investment by pension schemes in companies linked with the manufacture of cluster munitions; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of current legislation for preventing the indirect involvement of pensions schemes in companies linked with the manufacture of cluster munitions.

Steve Webb: My Department has not received any recent representations from the pensions industry on investments in companies linked with the manufacture of cluster munitions. Whilst we have no immediate plans to review this specific area, we are undertaking a consultation on whether the current requirements on trustees regarding “social, environmental or ethical considerations” in the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2015 should be amended to help them distinguish between financial and non-financial factors.

Pensions

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will produce guidance to pensions schemes to assist those schemes in avoiding investment in companies linked with the manufacture of cluster munitions.

Steve Webb: The Pensions Regulator produces free guidance for trustees via the online Trustee Toolkit. The Trustee Toolkit was updated in October 2014, with new material on the extent to which trustees should take account of social, environmental or ethical considerations when taking investment decisions. This new material reflects the outcomes of the Law Commission’s recent review of fiduciary duties.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on research into possible links between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and employment in heavy industry.

Mr Mark Harper: The principal cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is smoking, but there is extensive international research which confirms that past exposures to fumes, chemicals and dusts at work will have also contributed to causing many currently occurring cases. The Department for Work and Pensions is advised about the risks of occupational diseases, including COPD, by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) in the context of social security benefits. IIAC is an independent scientific advisory body that reviews research literature and makes recommendations to Ministers about which diseases and exposures should be covered by the Industrial Injuries Scheme. IIAC has reviewed the occupational risks of COPD on four separate occasions, which included consideration of the risks in certain heavy industries (e.g. coal mining, hard rock mining and welding). In 2004, IIAC commissioned research to review the scientific literature about the risks of COPD from exposures encountered during work, including in heavy industry. IIAC’s reports are available on www.gov.uk/iiac or by contacting the IIAC Secretariat. The available published research – most of which is not UK-based – implicates various agents and occupational groups as being associated with an increased risk of COPD. Coal dust exposure through mining activities is an established cause of the disease. Epidemiological studies have also identified associations between a number of other occupational exposures which are associated with heavy industry, such as other mineral dusts (e.g. respirable crystalline silica), organic dusts and certain chemicals, fumes and combustion products. The Health and Safety Executive has also commissioned further research to clarify the extent to which occupational factors have contributed to the burden of COPD in Great Britain. This research is currently underway and is expected to report in 2016.

Pensions

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the consequences for his policies of the cost benefit analysis of the uprating of frozen pensions contained in the report from the International Consortium of British Pensioners, published in October 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: There are no consequences for the Coalition Government’s policy on the up-rating of UK State Pension paid to people living overseas, which has been supported by successive post war Governments. There are no plans to unfreeze UK State Pensions paid in those overseas jurisdictions where there is no legislative requirement to uprate.

Personal Independence Payment: Blackpool

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Blackpool South constituency and (b) Blackpool local authority area have applied for personal independence payments; and how many of those have received a decision on that application.

Mr Mark Harper: Information on registration, clearances and awards at Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level are published on a quarterly basis as part of our official statistics release, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics The information requested can be found in the data tables that accompany each release. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/412878/tables-pip-statistics-apr-2013-to-jan-2015.xls

Work Programme: Blackpool

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) people in the Work Programme entered employment and (b) people in the Work Programme were subject to benefit sanctions in (i) Blackpool South constituency and (ii) Blackpool local authority area in the last 12 months.

Esther McVey: The information requested for part (a), in respect of the number of people placed into employment from the Work Programme is not available. The information we do have shows the number of Work Programme job outcomes, by various geographies and this can be found at:http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html Guidance for users can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance Information on the number of Jobseeker’s allowance and Employment Support Allowance claimants referred to the Work Programme who have been sanctioned for failure to participate, by various geographies, is published and available at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance for users is available at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

Social Security Benefits: Blackpool

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of jobseeker's allowance in (a) Blackpool South constituency and (b) Blackpool local authority area were sanctioned in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013, (iii) 2014 and (iv) 2015; and what the total amount of benefits withheld was as a result of those sanctions in each of those areas in each of those years.

Esther McVey: The information we have to answer the first part of the question, in respect of Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions, by various geographies, up to September 2014, is published and available at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm For part (b) I refer my hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 2 March 2015 to Question UIN 225001

Scotland

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when was the last time a Minister in his Department visited Scotland.

Steve Webb: The last time a DWP Minister visited Scotland was in 2014.

Home Office

Asylum

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) financial and (b) equality impact assessment has been undertaken of the forthcoming changes to the Immigration Rules announced on 13 January 2015 that will require further submissions by post-2007 refused asylum applicants to be made in person at her Department's office in Liverpool.

James Brokenshire: The further submissions process applies only to failed asylum seekers whose claims have already been carefully considered by UK Visas and Immigration, and their cases examined and found by the independent courts not to need protection or have any other basis to stay in the UK. Those who choose to make further submissions have usually been in the UK for at least six months and will have had access to free legal advice throughout the asylum process.The changes we are making will bring post-2007 further submissions cases in line with pre-2007 cases by requiring all applications to be lodged in person, in Liverpool, unless there are exceptional circumstances. This will improve customer service and enable decisions on further submissions to be taken within five working days in most cases. Those who are recognised as refugees or found to be otherwise eligible for leave to remain in the UK will therefore be granted leave more quickly under the new arrangements. Those whose applications are rejected will be expected to leave the UK and in most cases will not be eligible for asylum support. Tax payers should not be expected to support migrants who have failed to establish a right to remain in the UK and the changes we are making will result in substantial financial savings to asylum support costs. A full equality impact assessment was undertaken in advance of the changes. Extension of the existing process to more recent cases has been deferred for a short period to allow for discussion of concerns raised by Liverpool City Council but when we implement we expect to publish the Policy Equality Statement along with the revised policy.

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department and its executive agencies and associated bodies were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Karen Bradley: The number of people engaged off payroll by the Home Office and the Non Departmental Public Bodies, for which it is responsible, are published each year in its Annual report and Accounts. These are available on our website and can be found by following the links set out below:2013-14 (Average number of persons employed) (Page 39)https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321446/ARA_web_enabled_18_June.pdf2012-13 (Average number of persons employed) (Page 45)https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210660/Annual_Report_and_Accounts_FINAL_updated_logo.pdf2011-12 (Table 5 Staff in post) (Page 46)https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/143619/annual-report-2011-12.pdf2010-11 (Table 5 Staff in post) (Page 45)https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/120048/annual-report-201011.pdf

Members: Correspondence

Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that a full and substantive reply is given to the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed to his letter of 6 January 2015 regarding the Shared Services Directorate and his constituent M.W.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding her Department has allocated to the National Centre for the 3Rs in the present financial year.

Lynne Featherstone: Holding answer received on 19 March 2015



The Home Office has allocated £250,000 funding for the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) in the present financial year.The UK has one of the most comprehensive animal welfare systems in the world to ensure animal testing is carried out humanely and only when necessary. The Government has a continuing commitment to safeguard animal welfare and advance the use of the 3Rs principles (replacement, refinement and reduction) in research and development. The UK remains at the forefront of global work to develop alternatives to animal testing.

Asylum: Syria

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people resettled in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme were principal applicants.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 19 March 2015



 As of 31 December 2014, 143 people were relocated to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme, 34 of whom were principal applicants (i.e. head of family) and 109 their dependents. This is the latest publicly available figure, as numbers are released as part of the Home Office official statistics each quarter. The number of arrivals under the scheme up to the end of March 2015 will be published on 21 May.

Reptiles: Import Controls

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seizures of reptiles there were by the Border Force under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014; how many individual animals were so seized in each such year; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Antisocial Behaviour

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the contribution by the Minister of State for Crime Prevention of 23 February 2015 in the Third Delegated Legislation Committee, Official Report, column 6, what estimate her Department has made in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, of the costs of implementation and additional costs arising from commencement of injunctions to prevent nuisance or annoyance; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: Holding answer received on 20 March 2015



The Part 1 civil injunction under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, previously called the Injunction to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance, will come into force on 23 March. Estimated costs associated with the civil injunction are set out in the Government’s Impact Assessment which can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/197611/ReformingASBtools_and_powers__CBO-CPIandDispersal130509.pdf.

Animal Experiments

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 12 March 2015, HCWS385, on testing of household products on animals, what proportion of tests on animals for ingredients predominantly used in household products are not carried out for regulatory purposes; and what estimate she has made of the annual number of animals who will not now be used to test household product ingredients as a result of measures in that announcement.

Lynne Featherstone: The ban on testing animals on household products includes any chemical where more than half of it is expected to be used as an ingredient in household products. The only exceptions are tests legally required to protect humans, animals or the environment, or a small number of cases where a "strong justification" can be made for which we will apply a robust harm-benefit analysis. We will monitor the application of these exceptions closely. The Annual Statistical Returns on the use of animals in Scientific Procedures do not specify the purpose of use of chemical ingredients. One of the reasons we want to have a notification system is to get better understanding of what, why and for what purposes ingredients primarily used in household products are tested. We estimate that on average, Contract Research Organisations in the UK test a small number of ingredients per year (around 8 or fewer) for which the testing is required by regulation and which are primarily for use in household products. From 1st October 2015 businesses will be required to report the testing within 30 days of having it carried out.The UK has one of the most comprehensive animal welfare systems in the world to ensure animal testing is carried out humanely and only when necessary. This ban is a big step forwards that significantly raises the bar on the use of animals in testing and goes beyond that of other European countries. It demonstrates a continuing commitment to safeguard animal welfare and advance the use of the 3Rs principles (replacement, refinement and reduction) in research and development. The UK remains at the forefront of global work to develop alternatives to animal testing.

Drugs: Misuse

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce legislative proposals to ban the sale of legal highs in March 2015.

Lynne Featherstone: The Government is developing proposals for a general ban on the supply of new psychoactive substances across the UK, with a view to introducing legislation at the earliest opportunity. There is no appropriate legislative vehicle to do so in this Parliament.

Staff

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of employees in her Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.

Karen Bradley: The 2014 Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) provided employment data for all Civil Service departments, although this does not break down to all the categories requested. The data revealed that in the Home Department:• 18,720 (68.59%) of employees identified as White • 5,760 (21.10%) of employees identified as Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) This data is based on a total of 27,290 permanent Home Department employees on payroll. Of these, 2,800 (10.26%) staff had not declared their ethnicity.

Animal Experiments

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce, refine and replace the use of animals in research.

Lynne Featherstone: In 2010, the coalition government made a commitment to work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research and a delivery plan has been published. The plan shows how alternative methods can deliver fast, high-quality research that also boosts economic growth. Since the Plan was published, a wealth of significant new research and knowledge dissemination on the 3Rs - Replacement, Refinement and Reduction - has been completed. It includes the launch of the first products from the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) open innovation programme CRACK IT, a £4 millioncompetition run by Innovate UK and the NC3Rs to fund the commercialisation of non-animal technologies.There is also the publication of important new studies on veterinary and human vaccine testing by Defra and Public Health England which have identified scope to reduce the numbers of animals used in developing vaccines. New joint working by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Home Office has additionally produced refined testing models to reduce animal suffering.We have taken major steps to encourage greater international adoption of 3Rs techniques, including a ground-breaking programme of knowledge-sharing with regulators and life science associations in China led by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit. In addition, we have published collaborative research across the global life sciences sector led by the NC3Rs and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to minimise the use of recovery animals in pharmaceutical development.

Domestic Violence: Lancashire

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many dedicated staff there were at each rank dealing with domestic violence at each police station in Lancashire in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

Lynne Featherstone: Figures on the number of staff dedicated to dealing with domestic violence are not centrally held by the Home Office. However, the Home Office does collect statistics on the number of police workers within the Child/Sex/Domestic/Missing function. Figures are only available at force level and cannot be broken down further. Data for 2015 have not yet been collected centrally and will not be available until the autumn. The table provided shows the number of full-time equivalent police workers, by worker type, within the Child/Sex/Domestic/Missing function for Lancashire Constabulary, as at 31 March 2013 to 31 March 2014.   



Full-time equivalent policeworkers by type
(Excel SpreadSheet, 26.5 KB)

Police: Pensions

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding her Department provided in police pension top-up grants to each police force in England and Wales in each year since 2006-07.

Mike Penning: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Merseyside Police

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time police officers have been in the employ of Merseyside Police in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Borders: Personal Records

Mr David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what account her Department took of the effects of and reasons for the removal of embarkation procedures in 1996 when making the decision to re-establish such procedures in the current Parliament.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what expenditure UK Border Force has incurred in operating x-ray scanners to tackle tobacco smuggling in each year since 2010-11.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of the salaries of officials working in the Border Force employed in tackling tobacco smuggling in each year since 2010-11.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Syria

Mr Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been (a) referred to the UK's Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and (b) successfully resettled in the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme in each year since 2013.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2015 to Question 220089, what assessment her Department has made of the UK's compliance with the provisions of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The 2014 Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention includes six specific articles with action for governments. We are confident that the UK already meets the requirements of these six articles in existing laws and regulations, which will be further strengthened through the provisions in the Modern Slavery Bill. UK compliance was thoroughly assessed as part of the negotiations of the Protocol in May and June 2014, at which the UK was represented.

Detention Centres

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the size of the immigration detention estate.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2015 to Question 220089, whether the UK plans to ratify the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention before the Dissolution of Parliament.

Karen Bradley: The Government supports the Protocol to the 2014 Forced Labour Convention and intends to ratify it. A Written Ministerial Statement indicating the Government’s intention to ratify the Protocol was laid before Parliament on 7 January 2015. The Protocol was subsequently laid before Parliament on 6 February and must remain for 21 sitting days to allow scrutiny by both Houses.On 24 March, at the end of the 21 sitting days, if neither House has indicated an objection to ratification of the Protocol, the next stage of the process may begin. There will not be sufficient time to complete this process prior to the dissolution of Parliament. However there is no deadline for ratifying the Protocol.

Police: ICT

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police forces on the effective use of ICT.

Mike Penning: The Home Office works closely with police-led governance groups that guide the use of national police ICT. In addition, together with Police and Crime Commissioners, the department has supported the creation of the Police ICT Company, which will lead on the design, purchase and delivery of local, regional and national ICT. PCCs have now committed to making the Company operational.

*No heading*

Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to allow the mothers of brides and grooms to be recorded on marriage certificates.

James Brokenshire: There is support across Government for marriage registers to be updated and my Rt.Hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated publically in August 2014 that it was “high time” that a change was made. This is a complex task due to the large numbers of registers in use and the associated costs of replacing them. We are, therefore, investigating options on how this can be achieved as soon as possible.

*No heading*

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to protect the welfare of vulnerable people in custody.

Mrs Theresa May: Last year, I commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to carry out a review of vulnerable people in custody. Last week’s report was concerning, particularly regarding the use of Taser and restraint. I have therefore asked HMIC to specifically inspect the use of Taser and restraint. I am also suspending the publication of Taser data after work to review it revealed serious concerns about its accuracy. We need much greater transparency of age, ethnicity and outcome data of Taser incidents

*No heading*

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the introduction of a 28-day time limit on immigration detention.

James Brokenshire: It is Government policy that there is a presumption in favour of liberty when exercising detention powers under immigration legislation. Parliament voted on introducing a limit on detention of 60 days during the passage of the Immigration Act. This amendment was rejected with a majority of over 300.

*No heading*

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to identify and address the drivers of crime.

Lynne Featherstone: Crime is down by more than a fifth under this Government, according to the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales.We are addressing the key drivers of crime by reshaping our approach to alcohol; tackling illicit and harmful drug use; taking action in a number of areas to stop young people getting involved in crime; and closing off opportunities to commit crimes, for example by legislating on metal theft.

Northern Ireland Office

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, which news applications staff in her Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: The Northern Ireland Office has issued 6 smart phones and 5 tablets to staff that are capable of downloading news applications. These devices do not have any restriction to limit which news applications that can be downloaded, provided they are free of charge.

Department of Health

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his most recent estimate is of the rebate which will be paid to the Exchequer in 2015-16 through the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme; what assessment he has made of the potential effect of greater use of unlicensed medicines for age-related macular degeneration on that rebate; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: The current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) payment estimate for the United Kingdom in 2015-16 is £995 million, as set out the note that accompanied my Written Statement HCWS90 of 11 December 2014, which is available at:   www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2014-12-11/HCWS90/   We have made no assessment of any effect that the use of unlicensed medicines for age-related macular degeneration might have on the level of PPRS payments.

Meningitis: Vaccination

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent progress his Department has made on the roll-out of the vaccine for meningitis B.

Jane Ellison: We are seeking to reach a positive conclusion to the negotiations with the manufacturer for supply of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero® at a cost-effective price, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation as soon as possible. The Department has had a number of meetings with the manufacturer and is continuing to meet.

Mental Health Services

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of people in England referred for talking therapies for treatment of depression and anxiety in the second quarter of 2014-15 started their treatment within (a) six and (b) 18 weeks.

Norman Lamb: We do not collect the data in the format requested. The following table shows the number of days from referral to first treatment within the reporting period Quarter 2 2014/15 for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services in England:Total with first treatment in Quarter 2, 2014/15Of which waited 28 days or lessOf which waited between 29 and 56 daysOf which waited between 57 and 90 daysOf which waited more than 90 daysEngland191,532122,90935,15114,49718,975   We will be publishing national waiting times data for IAPT, reporting by six and 18 weeks for the first time on 21 April 2015.

Medical Records: Databases

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many representatives of patients and the public sit on the care.data Programme Board.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The care.data Programme Board membership includes Simon Denegri, the National Director for Public Participation and Engagement in Research at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and chair of Involve, the group funded by NIHR to support public involvement in National Health Service, public health and social care research.   The care.data programme is engaging with patients and the public through a number of routes including through the care.data Advisory Group, public events, research and work with a wide range of voluntary sector partners.

Antibiotics

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the General Medical Council (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake any reviews of online prescribing of oral antibiotics.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The General Medical Council (GMC) is an independent body and responsible for matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties.   The GMC has advised that on 31 January 2013, it published Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices, which came into effect on 25 February 2013. In relation to online prescribing, this guidance is clear on the need for an adequate assessment of the patient’s health, meaningful dialogue and consent, and for the doctor to be satisfied the medicines are appropriate for the patient’s needs. The GMC has a duty to look into concerns raised about individual doctors who are not following this guidance.   The GMC has confirmed that it does not currently have plans to further review its guidance on prescribing and managing medicines and devices.

Macular Degeneration

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what correspondence his Department has had with NHS England in the last two months on the use of unlicensed treatments for age-related macular degeneration; and if he will place copies of such correspondence in the Library.

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when officials of his Department last discussed unlicensed treatments for age-related macular degeneration with (a) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and (b) the General Medical Council; what the content of those discussions was; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: The use of unlicensed medicines to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been the subject of discussions between the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and other stakeholders over several years. We can confirm that we have recently received several letters from National Health Service commissioners regarding the unlicensed use of Avastin for the treatment of wet AMD, and a copy of my response is attached. We have also been in contact with the company that manufactures Avastin. We have stressed that clinical commissioning groups’ commissioning policies must respect the European legislation and guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC) and MHRA that prohibits the supply of an unlicensed medicine where a licensed one is available, unless there is a “special need” which means that the unlicensed treatment is better suited to the clinical need of an individual patient.   Recent discussions and correspondence with the MHRA and NHS England relate to the ongoing development of Government policy in this area. In order to maintain the delivery of effective Government, it would not be appropriate to publish information about the contents of these discussions or to place any related correspondence in the Library. Departmental officials have had no recent discussions on the use of unlicensed treatments for the treatment of AMD with the GMC. 



NHS Commissioner Letter
(PDF Document, 537.25 KB)

Hepatitis

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions NHS England officials have had with representatives of NICE on the commitment to a fast-track interim commissioning policy for interferon-free hepatitis C medicines made during the health technology assessment of sofosbuvir.

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England's proposed interim commissioning policies for interferon-free hepatitis C medicines have been considered by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group.

George Freeman: NHS England has advised that it responded to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal consultation for sofosbuvir in the standard way. Further clarification of NHS England’s readiness for commissioning the service was requested by NICE. This was responded to by letter. NHS England’s correspondence with NICE is published alongside other stakeholders’ comments on NICE’s website at   http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta330/documents   NHS England has advised that the Clinical Commissioning Policy Statement for the treatment of patients with compensated cirrhosis is in the process of final approvals by the Clinical Reference Group and once the proposal has been established will pass through the governance arrangements to the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group including, if required, a period of public consultation.

Defibrillators: York

Sir Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of automated defibrillators there were in (a) York Central constituency and (b) City of York Council area in 2010 and each subsequent year.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected centrally.

Health Services

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the new arrangements for collaboratively commissioning specialised services will be co-designed with patient organisations with an interest in specialised commissioning.

Jane Ellison: NHS England has designed the guidance for collaborative commissioning with both the Patient and Public Voice Assurance Group and other wider national patient groups. Local collaborative commissioning committees are expected to consider, as part of their structure and function, how they will engage with patients and public locally.   A copy of the guidance is attached. 



NHS England collaborative commissioning guidance
(PDF Document, 395.17 KB)

Cancer

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ensure that the forthcoming cancer strategy will include specific actions to improve early diagnosis in those with rare and less common cancers.

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent analysis his Department has commissioned of the specific needs of people with rare and less common cancers.

Jane Ellison: A new cancer strategy is being developed by an independent Cancer Taskforce, chaired by Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, and will address the whole cancer pathway. Clara Mackay, chief executive of Cancer 52, which represents charities for people affected by rare and less common cancers, is a member of the Cancer Taskforce, and wide stakeholder engagement is taking place to develop the strategy.   To promote awareness and early diagnosis of rarer cancers, Public Health England (PHE) has run national Be Clear on Cancer campaigns for bladder and kidney cancers and oesophageal and stomach cancers, as well as a regional pilot for ovarian cancer. The Department will continue to work with PHE, NHS England and other stakeholders to keep these campaigns under review and see what might be done to increase awareness of other less common cancers.

Disability: Mental Health

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of loneliness on the overall wellbeing of disabled people of working age.

Norman Lamb: Loneliness is an issue which the Department is taking seriously. We have been working to establish the extent of the problem and to raise awareness of the difficulties of loneliness and social isolation and we are helping local health and wellbeing boards and commissioners to get better at measuring the issue in their local communities. This will help them come up with the right targeted solutions, and drive local improvements that really make a difference.   Specifically, we have made sure that a measure of social isolation has now been included in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2013/14 for the first time, marking an important step towards improving the lives of social care users and carers that are experiencing isolation. This measure provides a clear focus for local priority setting, enabling local authorities to determine the scale of the problem in their area.   The Department has also funded a digital toolkit for local commissioners, which was developed by the Campaign to End Loneliness. Since its launch in July 2012, the toolkit has been supporting commissioners in understanding, mapping and commissioning for loneliness and social isolation in their communities.   Finally, the Department has invested effort and resources in facilitating local authorities’ development of universal services to prevent, delay and reduce both physical and mental needs. This includes combatting feelings of loneliness. Alongside work to build our understanding of the issue and expanding the evidence base, the Department has supported the very successful Silver Line service and we have launched the Prevention Library where local authorities can exchange ideas and experience of the impact of information, advice and befriending services.

Disability: Mental Health

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of loneliness on the overall wellbeing of disabled young people.

Norman Lamb: There is significant evidence of the impact of loneliness of those of all ages with a disability’ the most recent being the report by SENSE published this month. We want to ensure that integrated approaches to assessment and planning of a young person’s needs include mitigation of loneliness as part of a holistic approach to wellbeing. For example, Education, Health and Care plans under the new statutory framework for special educational needs and disability should be developed with young people and their families, and focus on the outcomes which reflect the needs and wishes of the young person.   A measure of social isolation has now been included in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2013/14 for the first time, marking an important step towards measuring whether the lives of young social care users having made the transition to adulthood who are experiencing isolation are improving.   The Department for Education is leading work to improve the quality of teaching about mental health within Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lessons in schools and has commissioned the PSHE Association to produce guidance for schools on teaching about mental health safely and effectively. This guidance will be available in spring 2015. Such guidance deals with issues about promoting resilience and prevention of mental health in schools.   Following an in-depth look at mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, the Government has set out a blue-print for improving care over the next five years. The Government report of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Well-Being Taskforce’s findings, Future in mind, published on 17 March 2015, sets out a clear national ambition in the form of key aspirations that the Government would wish to see by 2020.

Mental Health Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many community treatment orders were (a) made and (b) revoked in each year since 2009-10; and how many people were discharged from such orders in that time.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding was allocated to (a) early intervention services for psychosis and (b) crisis care in each year since 2009-10.

Norman Lamb: We do not centrally hold information on the amount of funding that was allocated to early intervention services for psychosis and crisis care in each year since 2009/10.   We have identified £33 million additional spending in the current year to support people in mental health crisis, and to boost early intervention services, that help some of the most vulnerable young people in the country to get well and stay well.   The table below shows the number of community treatment orders that were issued, the number that were revoked and the number of discharges in England, in each year since 2009/10, reported to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).  2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/14Community Treatment Orders issued (under section 17A)4,1073,8344,2204,6474,434Revocations of CTO7791,0181,4691,5091,401Discharges from CTO1,0101,1671,7122,1622,230 Source:KP90, HSCIC

General Practitioners

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP practices there were in (a) July 2009, (b) May 2010 and (c) the latest month for which figures are available.

Dr Daniel Poulter: We are giving the National Health Service a total of £150 million to pilot new ideas on extending general practitioner (GP) access for millions more people, including offering more appointments from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, as well as more email and Skype consultations. We invested £50 million in wave one in 2014/15 and will invest a further £100 million for a second wave for 2015/16.   The most recent GP patient survey found that 85.2% of patients rate their overall experience of their GP practice as good and 73.8% of patients rated their overall experience of making an appointment as good.   The requested information is contained in the following table and it is important to note that these figures also include practice mergers and takeovers and do not provide an accurate representation of activity or service provision.   Number of active GP practices (England) YearNumber of practicesJuly 20098,393May 20108,389March 20157,909 Source: Information Centre for Health and Social Care

Mental Health Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many mental health trusts have signed up to pursuing a zero suicide ambition for mental health services.

Norman Lamb: Our Zero Suicide ambition, which we announced on 19 January, is not a target, but a call to create a culture in our country where everyone can talk about their mental health problems without fear or embarrassment. For this ambition to work it is essential that every part of the National Health Service commits to it.   This ambition has currently been adopted in Liverpool, the South-West and in the East of England. Health workers in these areas are re-thinking how they care for people with mental health conditions and a number of initiatives are underway.   Mersey Care in Liverpool has created a programme to eliminate suicide by 2017 to 2018 which includes:   - improved training for staff, focusing on the clinical skills needed to work with patients and their families to develop a ‘safety plan’ – a personalised care plan with clear ways to get help 24/7; - working with other providers and stakeholders to share best practice – including CALM, Samaritans and the Cheshire and Merseyside Reduction Partnership; and - a dedicated Safe from Suicide team will provide advice, support, assessment and monitoring.   As part of their ‘zero suicide’ ambition, South West of England is looking to:   - work closely with accident and emergency to better identify and support people who present with suicidal thoughts or attempts; - explore ways of providing better mental health support for people once they have been discharged, regardless of which NHS service they’ve been in contact with; - explore how to target high risk groups, such as middle aged men, with tailored support; and - work with other agencies, such as the police and transport services, to identify ‘hot-zones’ – areas where higher than average numbers of suicides occur – and understand the reasons behind these figures.   In the East of England, the whole region has come together to pledge to suicide prevention, with 4fourpilot areas helping to improve care by:   - providing training to give police, paramedics, midwives and general practitioners (GPs) greater confidence in talking to people who are in distress and help provide the care needed to keep them safe; - working to remove the means of suicide in local communities, for example erecting barriers at a ‘hot-spot’ at a shopping centre; - setting up a website (led by the charity MIND) to help educate communities in Cambridge and Peterborough and raise awareness about suicide. This is now being rolled out in other locations across the region; and - developing ‘safety plans’ – a personalised care plan developed with every person with risk factors, involving families and carers, with clear ways to get help around the clock.   We expect the health service to look at this work being done by these three pioneering areas. Adopting these approaches across the country could save thousands of lives.

NHS England

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2015 to the Answer of 13 March 2015 to Question 226844, whether Dr Adrian Crellin, Chair of the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group, (a) is an employee of NHS England and (b) receives reimbursement from NHS England for any services he provides to it.

Jane Ellison: Dr Crellin is not an employee of NHS England. He does receive reimbursement for work related to the NHS England Proton Programmes (Overseas and UK) and for his work supporting the National Clinical Lead for Cancer. This is administered via his employer. NHS England pays Dr Crellin’s employer for the time he spends with NHS England. The way in which this is transacted by the employer is a matter for those parties.

Asthma

Sir Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with asthma have a written asthma action plan; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: We are not able to provide a figure for how many people currently have a written asthma plan. However, the Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2015/16 says that everyone with a long term condition, including asthma, should be offered a personalised care plan.   NHS England is working with stakeholders to help ensure that people with long term conditions have a personalised care and support plan, developed collaboratively with healthcare professionals. It has produced a set of handbooks for commissioners and care practitioners to help them in implementing personalised care and support planning, and further support and resources will be developed in conjunction with partners, including support for patients and carers.

Asthma

Sir Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of how healthcare data and digital information could be used to help reduce variations in asthma care across the UK.

Jane Ellison: The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for People with Respiratory Disease, published in 2012 provides information on regional variations in a variety of areas related to asthma including prevalence and hospital admissions.   The Atlas has been put together by a wide range of organisation including the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care, the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK, and can be downloaded at:   http://www.rightcare.nhs.uk/index.php/atlas/respiratorydisease/   This information will allow researchers as well as those planning and commissioning NHS services to understand the impact of unwarranted variation on outcomes and to use the data to drive change locally so that care can be improved.

Hearing Impairment

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2014 to Question 217890, whether the Action Plan on Hearing Loss will be published before the end of the present Parliament.

Norman Lamb: The Action Plan on Hearing Loss has been published today and is available at:   http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/act-plan-hearing-loss.pdf

Midwives

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to increase the number of midwives working in the NHS over the next five years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Health Education England (HEE) has a key role in helping to improve the quality of care by ensuring our National Health Service workforce has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours to meet the needs of patients. Their workforce planning process sets out the £5 billion worth of investments HEE will make in education and training programmes in England.   HEE published their second workforce plan in December 2014. The plan sets out detail of the numbers of midwives they plan to train. For 2015/16, HEE plan to increase midwife training numbers by 1.6% to 2,605.   HEE’s national workforce plan for England is an aggregate of Local Education and Training Boards’ plans with the advice and input of clinical advisors, patient representatives, the Royal Colleges and other stakeholders. These local and national discussions are the basis for planning and developing the workforce for the NHS in England to ensure that there is a suitable supply of health professionals, including midwives. HEE undertake workforce planning on an annual basis.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what mechanisms does his Department hold to account local agencies which have signed up to the Crisis Care Concordat for fulfilling its provisions; and what steps he plans to take in response to such local agencies which do not implement the provisions of that concordat.

Norman Lamb: The Government’s Mandate to NHS England sets out clearly that “we expect NHS England to make rapid progress, working with CCGs and other commissioners, to help deliver on our shared goal to have crisis services that, for an individual, are at all times as accessible, responsive and high quality as other health emergency services.” The Mandate also states that the Government expects “every community to have plans to ensure no one in crisis will be turned away” based on the principles set out in the Crisis Care Concordat.   It is the role of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England to understand the local demand for crisis services and provide adequate levels of service. NHS England has a generic assurance process which considers how effective CCGs are in discharging their responsibilities. This is an evidence-based process which is designed to challenge where statutory duties are not being met. The revised CCG assurance framework for 2015/16 will have a particular focus on statutory duties.   The current planning guidance for CCGs, issued in December 2014, which they must have regard to, and which will be part of NHS England’s assurance process, makes specific reference to Concordat action plans, which should enshrine “the actions required of commissioners and providers to ensure that those experiencing a mental health crisis are properly supported”, and sets out the requirements of CCGs including for “the provision of mental health support as an integral part of NHS 111 services; 24/7 Crisis Care Home Treatment Teams; and the need to ensure that there is enough capacity to prevent children, young people or vulnerable adults, undergoing mental health assessments in police cells.” In designing Concordat action plans, the Department has asked local partners to pay particular attention to NHS England’s planning guidance and the Department, NHS England and Mind are supporting all areas to develop their plans and improve existing plans on an ongoing basis.   We have asked local areas to have governance structures in place to ensure strong local accountability in the monitoring of delivery of actions. The national Crisis Care Concordat works on the basis that all national signatories are jointly accountable to one another and we have asked local partners to adopt a similar approach to ensure that the spirit of collaborative working towards the mutual goal of improving mental health crisis care services for people of all ages is maintained.   The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has recently carried out local area inspections of services that respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis. CQC will provide feedback to those localities; this enables services to identify areas for improvement which can in turn be addressed through Concordat action plans. In addition, the final report will outline CQC’s plans for inspecting regulated providers that respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis so that key issues are routinely considered within their regulation of services, alongside recommendations for partners across the health and social care sector who have a responsibility towards people in crisis. CQC is seeking to publish the report later in 2015.   Crisis Teams and Health-based Places of Safety have been defined as core services under CQC’s new inspection model for mental health services, and will be rated by CQC as part of the comprehensive inspection process. As a key partner to the national Crisis Care Concordat, CQC will take into account the Concordat’s principles as part of this process.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of local spending plans by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) on mental health; how many CCGs are fulfilling the requirement set out in the NHS England Mandate to give the same support to mental health as they do to physical health; and what steps he is taking to respond to those CCGs which are not fulfilling that requirement.

Norman Lamb: The Department and NHS England continue to work together to ensure that there are consistent messages to commissioners and providers about the importance of delivering parity of esteem for mental health services and service users. We have scrutinised clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) spending plans to ensure mental health services are getting the priority they need.   Spending on mental health is estimated to increase by £302 million in 2014/15, with total mental health spending rising from £11.362 billion in 2013/14 to £11.664 billion planned in 2014/15, an increase of 0.6% in real terms. This helps to reverse decades of underinvestment in mental health services.   CCGs are responsible for funding local health services based on the needs of their communities.   NHS England published planning guidance for 2015/16 for commissioners which made the expectation clear that each CCG’s spending on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least the same percentage as each CCG’s allocation increase. CCGs will submit their commissioning plans for 2015/16 to NHS England later in the spring.   NHS England will assure CCG commissioning plans for 2015/16 after they have been submitted to ensure that they meet the expectation set out in the planning guidance.

NHS: Legal Costs

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many legal actions there have been between different NHS organisations in each year since 2009/10; and what the total cost to the public purse has been of each such action.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Health Services

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the recommendations of the Boorman Review of NHS health and well-being services have been implemented; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the recommendations on the provision of such services by the NHS.

Dr Daniel Poulter: National Health Service organisations are responsible for improving the health and wellbeing of their staff. Progress has been made on implementing the Boorman[1] recommendations as indicated by falling sickness absence rates[2] from 4.48% at the time of the Boorman Review to 4.15% in the year to October 2014 and the Royal College of Physicians[3] reporting last year that NHS trusts are beginning to prioritise staff health and wellbeing with progress made since their previous audit in 2011.   Our assessment of the effect of the recommendations on the provision of such services by the NHS is that there is no room for complacency and many trusts have more to do. Therefore, we continue to commission NHS Employers to support NHS organisations in improving the health and wellbeing of their staff. [1]http://www.nhshealthandwellbeing.org/pdfs/NHS%20Staff%20H&WB%20Review%20Final%20Report%20VFinal%2020-11-09.pdf[2] NHS Sickness Absence rates (Health and Social Care Information Centre).[3]http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/retain-and-improve/staff-experience/health-work-and-wellbeing/keeping-staff-well/implementing-nice-guidance-for-the-nhs-workplace-a-national-audit.

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children were admitted to adult inpatient mental health wards in each year since 2009-10.

Norman Lamb: The following table provides data on the number of children admitted to adult inpatient mental health wards in each year since 2009-10. The number of people aged under 18 who spent time in hospital1 during the year in National Health Service funded adult secondary mental health services by mental health provider and age2, 2009/10 – 2013/1432009/102010/112011/122012/132013/14  England Total9801,032357219355  15 or under3783411477443  16-17602691210145312   Source: Monthly Mental Health Minimum Dataset November 2013 Report: A special feature on people under 18 admitted to adult mental health wards and the Mental Health Bulletin, 2013/14. Available at http://www.hscic.gov.uk/mhldsreports   It is Government policy that children and young people under 18 should be placed in age-appropriate settings wherever possible in line with legislation.   The Government has provided £7 million additional funding in 2014/15 for NHS England to provide additional Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Tier 4 beds for young inpatients in the areas with the least provision. 53 of these beds have now opened bringing the total number of beds to over 1,400, the highest this has been in the last 15 years.   The Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat, which every area in England has now signed up to, reinforces the duty of the NHS to make sure that young people under 18 are treated in the right environment and that police custody is not routinely used as a place of safety.   The Deputy Prime Minister announced on 14 March that £250 million additional funding would be available each year over the course of the next Parliament, starting in April 2015. This will enable the NHS to treat a minimum of an extra 110,000 children and young people over the next five years. This funding will be specifically for community-based services, and so reduce the demand for Tier 4 CAMHS inpatient beds. The Government will also invest £150 million over the next five years (from April 2015) in England to improve services for children and young people with mental health problems, with a particular emphasis on eating disorders and self harm.   The Government report of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Well-Being Taskforce’s findings, Future in mind, published on 17 March, sets out a clear national ambition in the form of key aspirations that the Government would wish to see by 2020. This includes improved care for children and young people in crisis so they are treated in the right place at the right time, as close to home as possible.   Notes: 1 People are counted only once during the year regardless of how many times they were in hospital.   2This analysis is based on data which does not contain date of birth. The numbers are presented by a derived age which could be up to a year greater than their age at the time of the hospital stay. The derived age is the person’s age at the end of the year or their end of the spell of care, whichever is greater. So, for example, a person aged 16 when they spent time in hospital in April, will be 17 by the end of the year, maybe still on a caseload, they will be categorised as age 17.   3Significant changes to local systems and the way Mental Health Minimum Dataset is processed between 2010/11 and 2011/12 (to implement changes to the dataset and the implementation of MHMDS version 4) mean that figures for these years are not comparable. The decrease in numbers between these two years is largely attributable to improving data quality. It is not possible to quantify the extent to which the inclusion of CAMHS data prior to 2011/12 affects the accuracy of these figures but data suppliers have confirmed it may be an issue.

Diabetes

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the relationship between diabetes complications and unplanned hospital emergency admissions; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The following table, taken from the National Diabetes Audit 2012-13, Report 2: Complications and Mortality, shows the total number of emergency hospital finished consultant episodes (FCE) and National Diabetes Audit (NDA) related emergency hospital FCEs in England and Wales from 2012-13.   ComplicationNumber of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)/Patient Episode Database for Wales (PEDW) emergency episodes1Number of NDA related emergency episodes2NDA related emergency episodes as a proportion of HES /PEDW emergency episodesAngina486,941114,59923.5%Myocardial Infarction (heart attack)178,28434,79019.5%Heart Failure578,883136,91123.7%Stroke235,33338,91116.5%Major Amputation3,7271,38537.2%Minor Amputation4,3272,67261.8%Renal Replacement Therapy (ESKD)72,31822,83131.6%   Notes: A Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) is the time a patient spends in the continuous care of one consultant. If a patient transfers from one consultant to another within a single hospital provider spell, for example moves to a ward with a specific speciality and is treated by a new consultant, one Consultant Episode will end and another one begin. So patients may have more than one finished consultant episode during a single hospital stay. 1. HES/PEDW FCE are all episodes for the relevant complication between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013. This may include multiple episodes for one patient. 2. NDA episodes are from all patients registered with general practitioner (GP) practices that participated in the audit in the audit period 2011-12, please bear in mind that participation for the 2011-12 audit was 87.9 per cent of all eligible GP practices and there was a large variation across clinical commissioning groups and local health boards.   It shows that, with the exception of stroke, people with diabetes account for at least one fifth (and up to three fifths) of all emergency episodes for each of the complications.   There is sound evidence that achieving National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended diabetes treatment targets reduces complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, amputation and premature death. Improving the delivery of these continues to be important in ensuring that people with diabetes receive the best possible care and so reduce their risk of developing complications.   Furthermore, NHS England have prioritised prevention of diabetes and are working together with Public Health England and Diabetes UK to establish a national diabetes prevention programme, making us the first country to implement such a programme at scale, modelled on national and international proven experience. This should help reduce people’s risk of developing diabetes and therefore subsequently requiring hospital treatment for complications from the disease.

Epilepsy

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the extent to which sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and epilepsy training is provided within medical school programmes.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The content and standard of medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC), which is the competent authority for medical training in the United Kingdom. Its role is that of custodian of quality standards in medical education and practice. The GMC is an independent professional body. It has the general function of promoting high standards of medical education and co-ordinating all stages of medical education to ensure that students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values essential for professional practice.   Medical Schools are responsible for developing their own curricula, adhering to the standards set by the GMC in ‘Tomorrow’s Doctor’.   The GMC and medical schools therefore share the aim of ensuring that doctors are equipped to deal with the problems they will encounter in practice, including sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and epilepsy.

Patients: Safety

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Never events were investigated by NHS England in each year since 2012; how many and what proportion of those events related to mental health patients; what criteria NHS England uses to investigate incidents reported to the Strategic Executive Information System; and what mechanisms exist to ensure that actions and recommendations relating to the investigation of such incidents are implemented locally.

Dr Daniel Poulter: NHS England does not investigate individual ‘never events’ since this is the responsibility of the provider of care within which the serious incident occurred.   Never events are types of Serious Incidents as defined by the Serious Incident Framework (available online at: http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/sif-guide.pdf) and must be reported to the Strategic Executive Information System (STEIS) and investigated in accordance with this Framework. There are 25 never events categories defined in the current list within the companion Never Events Policy Framework which is available online at:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/healthcare-never-events-policy-framework-update   The number of never events reported is published monthly by category on NHS England’s website:   http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/patientsafety/never-events/ne-data/   Although there are two never event categories directly relevant to mental health (13. ‘Suicide using non-collapsible rails’ and 14. ‘Escape of a transferred prisoner’), never event reports are not classified by care setting.   There were 338 never events reported to the STEIS in financial year 2013/14, one of which involved the escape of a transferred patient from a mental health facility. In 2012/13 290 never events were reported to STEIS, one of which again involved the escape of a transferred patient from a mental health facility. There were no reports in either year associated with the category ‘suicide using a collapsible rail’. Mental health patients may have experienced never events in other categories.   As described within the Serious Incident Framework, it is the provider of the care, within which the serious incident occurred, that is responsible for reporting, investigating and responding to the serious incident. Commissioners are accountable for quality-assuring the robustness of their providers’ investigations and the development and implementation of effective actions by the provider, to prevent recurrence of similar incidents. Serious incident investigations should be closed by the relevant commissioner when they are satisfied that the investigation report and action plan meet the required standard. Providers and commissioners are expected to establish mechanisms for monitoring on-going or long-term actions to ensure they are fully implemented.

Patients: Safety

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many categories of a Never ever event there are which must be reported to the Strategic Executive Information System; and how many and what proportion of those categories are relevant to mental health.

Dr Daniel Poulter: There are 25 serious incident categories classified as ‘never events’. All of these incidents must be reported to the Strategic Executive Information System. A never event is a serious, largely preventable patient safety incident that should not occur if the available preventative measures are implemented. Although there are two never event categories which are directly relevant to mental health (13. Suicide using non-collapsible rails and 14. Escape of a transferred prisoner) never event reports are not classified by care setting.

Cancer

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of research into rare and less common cancers.

George Freeman: Overall investment in cancer research by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has increased from £102 million in 2009/10 to £130 million in 2013/14.   The usual practice of the Department's NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including rare and less common cancers. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Varian Medical Systems UK

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what declarations of interest in relation to Varian Medical Systems have been made by Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group member, Carol Scott.

Jane Ellison: NHS England has confirmed that Carol Scott, a member of the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group, has made a declaration of interest in relation to Varian Medical Systems. The Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group, including Carol Scott, is not involved in making procurement decisions.

Adrian Crellin

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on which private health companies Dr Adrian Crellin, Chair of the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group, practices with.

Jane Ellison: NHS England has confirmed that Dr Adrian Crellin, Chair of the Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group, does not have any private clinical practice.

Pneumococcal Disease

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce deaths from (a) pneumonia and (b) pneumococcal disease; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The Department is taking a range of measures to reduce deaths from pneumonia and pneumococcal disease including:   Vaccinating all of those for whom pneumococcal infection is likely to be more common and/or serious, i.e. infants as part of the routine childhood immunisation programme; those aged 65 years or over; and children and adults in clinical risk groups.   The Department is also working with Health Education England to identify how prescribing competencies can be built into professional curricula. This is part of a programme optimising the use of antibiotics to improve the treatment of infections including pneumonia.

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Deputy Prime Minister's press release of 18 March 2015, on children's mental health services, what the access and waiting time standards will be; when such standards will be introduced; and if he will estimate current performance against such standards.

Norman Lamb: The additional funding announced by the Deputy Prime Minister on 18 March will enable further access targets and waiting time standards to be introduced for children and young people’s mental health services. As far as the access target is concerned, the intention is that a minimum of 110,000 additional children and young people will be treated by 2020. More details will be made available in due course.   However, the new standards previously announced which are to be introduced from 1 April 2015 will also apply to young people in some cases. By 2016, at least 50% of people of all ages including children and young people, who are referred for early intervention in psychosis services, will start treatment within two weeks. This is the first access and waiting time standard for mental health ever to apply to children.

Brain: Tumours

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Headsmart Campaign in raising awareness of child brain tumours; and what steps he is taking to ensure that, after diagnosis of such tumours, (a) children and (b) adults receive the support they need for emotional and mental wellbeing.

Jane Ellison: We are aware of the HeadSmart Be brain tumour aware campaign which was launched in 2011, and fully support the campaign’s aims to raise awareness of brain tumours and promote earlier diagnosis in children and young people. In early 2014, I met with representatives of HeadSmart. I subsequently wrote to local health and wellbeing boards, and Public Health England (PHE) contacted all directors of public health in April 2014, encouraging them to support the campaign and drawing their attention to the campaign’s awareness-raising materials. PHE and Department of Health officials met with The Brain Tumour Charity on 23 January 2015, which resulted in the HeadSmart team giving a well-received presentation to the School Nursing Partnership Implementation Group on 17 March 2015. In addition, a meeting is being set up with officials from NHS England to discuss the evaluation and impact of the HeadSmart campaign. We will continue to work with stakeholders to see what more can be done to increase awareness of brain tumours.   The National Cancer Survivorship Initiative (NCSI) has set out to understand the numbers, needs, and experiences of people living with and beyond cancer, including emotional and psychological needs, and the most effective service solutions to meet the growing numbers of survivors. The NCSI has recommended four priority areas: recovery packages, consequences of treatment and Patient Report Outcome Measures (PROMs), stratified pathways of care and physical activity. To support this work NHS England, in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, has established the Living with and Beyond Cancer Programme, a two-year programme of work to embed the four priority areas from NCSI into mainstream commissioning.   NHS England has also established the Teenage and Young Adults Clinical Reference Group (CRG) so that the clinical needs of teenagers and young people with cancer are taken into account as part of cancer commissioning. The CRG is working to ensure that teenagers and young people with cancer have access to dedicated pathways, and that the gaps in the associated services, such as mental health, palliative care and transition, are closed.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many of the local authorities that have signed up to the Crisis Care Concordat have produced an action plan for the implementation of the provisions of that concordat.

Norman Lamb: The areas that had completed action plans as at 20 March are as follows:   - Bath and North East Somerset; - Bradford and Airedale; - Brighton and Hove; - Bristol; - Derby and Derbyshire; - Doncaster; - Gloucestershire; - Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan); - Kent and Medway; - Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland; - Lancashire; - London boroughs of Barking, Havering and Redbridge, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden and Islington, Ealing, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, and Westminster; - Norfolk; - North Yorkshire; - Oxfordshire (pending approval); - Portsmouth (pending approval); - South Tyneside (pending approval); - Solihull; - Staffordshire; - Suffolk; - Stoke on Trent; - Surrey; and - Wiltshire.   The Department has also received action plans from the following areas, and is currently reviewing them:   - London boroughs of Barking, Havering and Redbridge, Bromley, and Newham; - Oxfordshire; - Portsmouth; - South Tyneside; - Dorset; - South Gloucestershire; and - Rotherham.   All of the areas’ action plans are available to read at www.crisiscareconcordat.org.

Dementia

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that family carers for dementia patients receive the training they need to care appropriately for them.

Norman Lamb: Through the Care Act, we have legislated to give carers new rights. Local authorities will be required to undertake carers’ assessments, based on the appearance of a need for support, the impact of caring on the carer, and the outcomes they wish to achieve, including engaging in work, education, training or recreation. For the first time, local authorities have a duty to meet carers’ eligible needs for support, which may include access to training to support them in their caring role.   The Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia 2020, published on 21 February 2015, recognises the vital role of carers of people with dementia and states that, by 2020, we would wish to see carers of people with dementia being made aware of and offered the opportunity for respite, education, training, emotional and psychological support so that they feel able to cope with their caring responsibilities and to have a life alongside caring.   We continue to support the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action and its vision, which includes for carers of people of dementia to have, among other things, access to expertise to be effective carers. We are also supporting the establishment of a new involvement network for family carers of people with dementia.   We also fund the Carers Direct service which includes web-based information and advice for all carers through NHS Choices, as well as a telephone helpline service through which carers can be signposted to information, which includes local sources of support who can advise on caring for people with specific conditions such as dementia.   In its action plan Commitment to Carers, NHS England has committed to support timely diagnosis of dementia, including support for carers. For example, the revised Dementia Enhanced Service, which is being introduced from March 2015, includes an offer of a health check for carers and signposting to relevant information, advice and support.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients spent 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission in A&E in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

Jane Ellison: This data is published by NHS England on a weekly basis and is available at the following website:   http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/

Cancer: Drugs

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his plans are for future funding of drugs for those with rare and less common cancers.

George Freeman: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 March 2015 to his Question 227609.

Health Services

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy that specialised commissioning hubs will be able to deviate from national standards in their commissioning of specialised care.

Jane Ellison: NHS England has a number of direct commissioning responsibilities, including for a range of prescribed specialised services for which national commissioning policies and service specifications are developed and published.   The majority of other NHS services fall within the commissioning responsibilities of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and for these services it is for CCGs to determine commissioning policies and service requirements on a local basis.   It is important that the respective commissioning approaches fit together in a way that provides clinically and cost effective and cohesive care for patients and for that reason NHS England is supporting a range of collaborative commissioning approaches between its specialised commissioning teams, clinical advisors and CCGs.   National service specifications and clinical commissioning policies will still apply for those specialised services that will be collaboratively commissioned with CCGs.

Hospitals: Parking

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on income earned from parking charges in each hospital in Lancashire in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Data is not collected centrally on income earned from parking charges by the National Health Service.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater London

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2014 to Question 215787, whether NHS England plans to publish the independent review of the adequacy of capacity planning and execution of delivery plans for A&E service changes that have taken place across north west London.

Jane Ellison: The clinical commissioning groups in north-west London are committed to publishing their approach to assessing the impact and the benefits of the Shaping a Healthier Future programme.   We are advised that they are also committed to publishing the review of the impact of the accident and emergency changes at Central Middlesex and Hammersmith hospitals.

Obesity: Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the British Medical Association and the Royal Colleges on the implications for the NHS of links between obesity and cancer; and what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of obesity-related cancer.

Jane Ellison: Ministers have had no such recent discussions but the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges is a member of the Obesity Review Group, which I chair. I last met with the group on 27 January.   We know that obesity is a leading cause of serious diseases including some cancers and we have a well-developed and wide-ranging programme of actions to reduce levels of obesity. These include working with partners including Public Health England, NHS England, Government departments, including the Department for Education and Department for Transport, and industry through the Public Health Responsibility Deal. Key initiatives include Change4Life, the National Child Measurement Programme, NHS Health Checks, Change4Life Sports Clubs, School Sports Funding and the School Food Plan.

Cancer

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the table in Paragraph 123 of the Impact Assessment to the Government's 2011 Cancer Strategy, whether the projected increase in staff numbers required to deliver that strategy by 2014-15 was achieved for (a) radiographers, (b) consultant radiologists, (c) ultrasonographers, (d) technicians and (e) endoscopists.

Jane Ellison: Information for 2014-15 is not available.

Surgery

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost to the NHS was of a (a) hip replacement, (b) knee replacement, (c) cataract operation and (d) hernia operation in England in 2014.

Jane Ellison: The information is shown in the following table and is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year. Reference costs for acute care are collected by healthcare resource group (HRG), which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments that consume similar levels of healthcare resource. The costs cover one episode of care under one consultant and do not include other elements of the patient pathway such as outpatient appointments.   Estimated average unit cost to NHS providers in 2013-14  Average unit cost per one finished consultant episodeHip replacement£6,803Knee replacement£6,059Cataract operation£878Hernia operation£2,010 Source: Reference costs, Department of Health   Notes: 1. Includes the average unit costs for the following HRGs, weighted for the activity reported for each HRG: HA12, Major Hip Procedures for Trauma HB12, Major Hip Procedures for Non-Trauma HA21, Major Knee Procedures for Trauma HB21, Major Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma BZ01, Enhanced Cataract Surgery BZ02, Phacoemulsification Cataract Extraction and Lens Implant BZ03, Non-Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery FZ17, Abdominal Hernia Procedures FZ18, Inguinal, Umbilical or Femoral Hernia Procedures 2. The majority of procedures in HA12, HB12, HA21 and HB21 are for total replacements of hip or knee joints but may include other hip or knee procedures.

Public Health England

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2015 to Question 227480, what campaigns were funded from the social marketing budget; and how much was allocated to each such campaign.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) took over all the public health campaigns formerly run by the Department on 1 April 2013. PHE’s spend on specific marketing campaigns in 2013-14 is as follows:   Campaign Budget for 2013-2014Smokefree£8,210,000Change 4 Life£12,400,000Start4Life and Information Service for Parents£700,000Youth£30,000Mental health and Wellbeing£205,000Be Clear on Cancer£7,600,000Breathlessness£70,000Stroke£870,000Flu£480,000TOTAL30,565,000

Dementia

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the effect of recent social care budget changes on people with dementia.

Norman Lamb: Expenditure on adult social care and the future demand for services will be reviewed as part of the Spending Review.   However, over the current spending review period the Department allocated additional funding to local authorities, including a transfer from the National Health Service worth £1.1 billion a year in 2014/15, to be spent on social care with a health benefit.   Spending on social care is ultimately a local decision made by individual councils.   Moreover, from April 2015, councils and the NHS will pool £5.3 billion of their local budgets to form the Better Care Fund. This will require local authorities and the NHS to work together, and engage local partners, including voluntary sector organisations. Local areas will be expected to use some of this to improve care for people with dementia.

NHS: Temporary Employment

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much NHS trusts have spent on agency and contract staff in (a) each year since 2009-10 and (b) 2014-15 to date; and how much NHS trusts plans to so spend in 2015-16.

Dr Daniel Poulter: National Health Service spend on agency and contract staff is recorded in the table below:   £ Billion Expenditure2009-102010-112011-122012-132-13-142.232.081.842.332.58   As at 31 December 2014, the NHS had spent £1.3 billion at NHS foundation trusts (FTs) and £1.1 billion at NHS trusts on agency and contract staff.   In 2015-16, the NHS plans to spend £568.2 million at NHS FTs.   The planned spend for NHS trusts is not currently available.   Following the Francis report many trusts increased their spend on temporary staffing to meet safe staffing levels. The Department expects trusts to have a strong grip on their finances, and manage their contract and agency staffing spend (including use of locums) responsibly through effective and efficient workforce planning and management and to minimise temporary staffing costs in future years.   To support the NHS to reduce agency spend, we are working to improve the deployment of the existing employed nursing workforce, for example, through spreading good practice in use of electronic rostering; improve workforce planning and supply to ensure we achieve safe staffing levels through better recruitment and retention including, for example, supporting nurses who want to “Return to Practice”. In addition , we are working to reduce the cost of agency staff by, where it is possible and appropriate, requiring the NHS to use existing frameworks (e.g. trusts receiving financial help under the Health and Social Care Act 2012) so they can secure agency staff at market rates.   Notes: The figures reported by FTs were different in definition from those collected from other organisations before 2012-13, and were different in status. FTs published figures for “Agency/contract” expenditure in their annual audited accounts. Other organisations did not provide this level of detail in their audited accounts, but reported expenditure on “Non-NHS Staff” in annual Financial Returns. These returns followed on after the accounts and were reconciled to them, but were not part of the audited accounts.   Financial Returns were discontinued in 2013 to reduce the burden on the NHS. At the same time, the definition was aligned with FTs as “Agency/contract”. Excluded from the “Agency/Contract” category are costs of staff recharged by another organisation where no element of overhead is included i.e. where the staff costs are shared between the NHS trust and other bodies; staff on secondment or on loan from other organisations; amounts payable to contractors in respect of the provision of services (for example, cleaning or security).   The figure for 2009-10 includes primary care trusts (PCTs). PCTs provided significant amounts of patient services (in 2010, 19% of NHS nurses were employed by PCTs), and most of these services have transferred into trusts. It is not possible to separate out PCT expenditure between provider and commissioner costs.   For the first time, the Department collected unaudited financial data from NHS trusts for 2013/14 on Contract and Agency staffing costs and income to give a net expenditure figure. The data was collected on the NHS Summarisation Schedules that form the basis of the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts

NHS: Finance

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS and foundation trusts expect to be in deficit at the end of the 2014-15 financial year; and whether he expects the NHS trust sector as a whole to be in deficit at the end of that year.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The latest position on NHS provider deficits can be found in the related Quarter Three performance reports, published on the websites of the NHS Trust Development Authority and Monitor. These can be found –   NHS trusts:   http://www.ntda.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Paper-D-Service-and-Financial-Performance-Report-for-December-2014.pdf   Foundation trusts:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-foundation-trusts-quarterly-performance-report-quarter-3-201415

Health Services

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if NHS England will publish specialised commissioning policies for the 2015-16 financial year alongside the response to the Investing in Specialised Commissioning - Public Consultation; and when that response will be published.

Jane Ellison: All the commissioning policies for the 2015/16 financial year are currently being reviewed and will be published as soon as decisions are made.   The Investing in Specialised Commissioning Public Consultation closes in April 2015 and there will be a consultation outcomes report published as soon as is practicable following the closing date.

NHS: Fraud

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the annual cost of fraud in the NHS.

Dr Daniel Poulter: NHS Protect review and analyse information to indicate losses in specific areas of National Health Service spend, this enables targeted anti-fraud action to be undertaken in the areas most at risk. There is no overall comprehensive assessment of the annual cost of fraud to the NHS.   In November 2014 the Department created a DH Anti-fraud unit which is responsible for developing, implementing and reviewing the group wide anti-fraud strategy. This unit will identify and prioritise new risks and co-ordinate the activity required to both reduce risk and further prevent financial loss.

NHS: Finance

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 227363, when he expects the system-wide solutions to address the financial problems within the local health economy to be announced; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has confirmed it has been asked by NHS England to present a turnaround plan on 31 March 2015.   We expect this to be made public in due course. Following that, it will be for the CCG and NHS England to determine the next steps, including the detail of any future announcements.

Mental Health Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects his Department's planned mental health app to be available across the NHS.

Norman Lamb: NHS England will later in March be launching a Mental Health Apps Library pilot to promote access to digital services that have a proven track record of improving outcomes for those suffering with depression and anxiety. The focus of the pilot will be on NHS commissioned digital services that are compliant with the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies quality standards, that offer National Institute of Health and Care Excellence approved evidence based treatments for depression and anxiety disorders. The aim of the pilot is to increase access to these services and create a better case for the commissioning of, and usage of, digital mental health services which lead to better outcomes.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) mean and (b) median time to (i) assessment, (ii) treatment and (iii) departure was in (A) type one and (B) all A&E departments in (1) each quarter of 2013-14 and (2) 2014-15 to date.

Jane Ellison: The NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) Hospital Episode Statistics measure accident and emergency waiting times from arrival to assessment, treatment and departure. This information is published on the HSCIC’s website and is available at the following link:   http://www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?q=A%26E+attendances&area=&size=10&sort=Relevance

Patients: Safety

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS trusts and foundation trusts have had action taken against them for not implementing guidance from patient safety alerts since May 2010; and what action was taken in each such case.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department's recent report, Culture change in the NHS, Cm 9009, whether he plans to place responsibility for patient safety alerts within (a) NHS England or (b) an arms-length organisation.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans (a) his Department, (b) NHS England and (c) the Care Quality Commission have to ensure that patient safety alert guidance is implemented; and how his Department plans to monitor compliance with that guidance.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Healthcare providers are expected to implement all the actions contained in a patient safety alert that are relevant to them and ensure that all relevant parts of their organisation and staff are aware of the information and/or the required changes. Providers should be scrutinising the implementation of their alerts and satisfying themselves that the alerts are complete by the designated deadline.   NHS England publishes monthly data about any trusts who have failed to declare compliance with stage one, two, or three of the National Patient Safety Alerting System’s (NaPSAS) alerts by their set due date. Provider compliance should also be an integral part of the commissioners’ responsibilities for improving quality.   As part of its inspections, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) looks at how providers respond to patient safety alerts as evidence of how effectively they manage and address safety concerns, and how they use this as learning to improve their safety systems and processes. CQC is continuing to develop and embed its approach to the use of data and intelligence across all the sectors it regulates as an integral part of its new approach to inspections, and has given greater prominence to safety alerts in its revised surveillance model. CQC’s Intelligent Monitoring system for the Acute Sector includes a composite indicator around completion of safety alerts and CQC is currently considering whether this can be implemented for the other sectors it regulates. This contributes to providers’ overall risk scores, which inform both the scheduling and prioritisation of inspections and the identification of focus areas for inspections.   Monitor is responsible for ensuring NHS foundation trusts are well-led so that they can provide quality care on a sustainable basis and would expect to be alerted by their providers of anything that might have a bearing on compliance with their licence including where there are significant issues regarding compliance with patient safety alerts. The NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA), as part of its oversight and escalation process, uses quality surveillance monitoring which it reviews on a monthly basis and which it uses to hold trusts to account for the timely compliance with alerts. This is undertaken via the TDA’s regular integrated delivery meetings with the trusts.   The Government has agreed to consider with relevant organisations the options for transferring NHS England’s responsibilities for safety to a single national body and this will include responsibility for patent safety alerts. No decision has yet been taken about the specific functions to be transferred and until such time, NHS England will continue to be responsible for these functions.

Health Services: Lancashire

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff are paid (a) above and (b) below the living wage by (i) Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (ii) Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Department does not hold this information.   The majority of trade unions that represent Agenda for Change staff recently agreed to accept the Government’s pay offer aimed at providing the most support to the lowest paid.   From April 2015, pay for the lowest paid National Health Service staff will increase from £14,300 to £15,100 per annum. Those on the lowest pay point will receive an increase of 5.6% and staff on the second pay point an increase of 3.1%.

Carers: Pensions

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support is available to help people who lack capacity and who fund their own care, to set up and manage their contributions to their carers' workplace pensions.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support is available to help people who fund their own care to enrol qualifying carers into a workplace pension.

Norman Lamb: Support and guidance to understand and comply with the automatic enrolment duties is provided by the Pensions Regulator (TPR). TPR recognises the particular challenges automatic enrolment raises for people who employ workers for their own care and support and has been working to ensure their communications and help meet the needs of this unique group of employers. TPR has available specific information and guidance for those that employ personal assistants and carers.   Their contact centre staff have been trained to deal with the specific issues that might arise when an employer identifies themselves as an employer of a personal assistant or carer. TPR is reaching out to this group of employers through third party organisations to not only help them get automatic enrolment right, but to make it as simple as possible and is also working with local authorities and central government to make sure that the message is consistent and clear.   Further information is available at:   http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/The_essential_guide_for_people_who_employ_their_own_care_and_support.pdf

Abortion

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health of 31 October 2012, Official Report, column 93WH, what his Department's definition of viability is for the gestational time limit for abortion.

Jane Ellison: In 1990, Parliament decided that the legal time limit for most abortions should be 24 weeks.

Care UK

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account his Department took of the findings of the Care Quality Commission on services provided by Care UK when reaching its decision to award a new NHS contract to that company; and what steps he plans to take to ensure the high quality of services provided by that company.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy that his Department should not take into account private healthcare companies' previous track records when deciding on whether to allow those companies new NHS contracts.

Dr Daniel Poulter: NHS Supply Chain has launched a framework agreement for mobile and strategic services. This framework agreement does not constitute a centralised national contract with any providers. Contracting for such services to meet temporary needs and maintain service standards are decisions for individual National Health Service organisations as opposed to politicians and civil servants in Whitehall.   All suppliers on the framework are Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered, hold Monitor licences as a minimum and have been vetted via the Disclosure and Barring Service. They will also have insurance cover to a minimum of £5 million as well as ISO9001 certification.   CQC registration includes a number of measures which need to be periodically satisfied in order to continue providing services to the NHS. The CQC also has the power to act if it determines that services are not of a sufficient quality.   More generally, we have brought in tougher independent inspections for all hospitals so any service that is not providing the desired quality of care, whether it is run by the NHS or privately, will be forced to turn things around or be put into special measures. The CQC, as the independent regulator of quality and safety, through its rigorous inspection regime is doing exactly what it was established to do.

NHS: Finance

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS trusts have (a) responded to the request from NHS England and Monitor to choose between the Enhanced Tariff Option and the Default Tariff Rollover for 2015-16 and (b) reserved the right to challenge those new tariff arrangements.

Jane Ellison: A total of 211 out of 241 NHS trusts and foundation trusts (88% of all providers) have opted for the Enhanced Tariff Option (ETO). Of these, 90 were NHS trusts as opposed to NHS foundation trusts. Four NHS trusts wrote to Monitor reserving their right to legal challenge (one of whom had chosen the ETO option but placed conditions on this). The remaining NHS providers have either chosen or defaulted to the Default Tariff Rollover option.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in (a) Wansbeck constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) the North East and (d) nationally.

Jane Ellison: Data on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are collected as part of the Quality and Outcomes Framework.   These data are not available by constituency.   The latest prevalence figures are for the period 2013/14.   Northumberland 2.5% North East 2.6% England 1.8%   Public Health England presents this data as part of the INHALE tool (INteractive Health Atlas for Lung conditions in England). This tool groups together indicators relevant to respiratory health.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Centre for Life

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Centre for Life in Newcastle is eligible for funding from the Inspiring Science Capital Fund.

Greg Clark: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today to Question UIN 227755.

Students: Finance

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will ensure that all Level 4 and Level 5 qualifications are eligible for the same funding by moving HNDs and HNCs from higher education funding to advanced learning loans.

Nick Boles: Last summer the Department consulted on the expansion and future development of further education advanced learning loans, including a proposal to transfer Higher National Certificates and Diplomas from higher education to further education funding to bring them within scope of loans. Decisions on the development of loans and on the future positioning of Higher Nationals will be announced in the Government’s response to the consultation.

Adult Education: Hackney

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Skills Funding Letter 2015 to 2016, if he will make an assessment of the potential effects of the change in adult skills funding between 2014-15 and 2015-16 on (a) students and (b) colleges in Hackney South and Shoreditch constituency.

Nick Boles: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Adult Education: Hackney

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effects of changes in adult skills funding since 2010 on (a) students and (b) colleges in Hackney South and Shoreditch constituency.

Nick Boles: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Internet

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his policy is on requiring internet search engines to incorporate trust marks and warnings to signify legal content in their algorithms and the search results presented to the consumers.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Search engines play a valuable role in guiding consumers to sources of legitimate content online. They are well placed to work with copyright owners to explore ways to promote legitimate websites in search results, taking into account any competition issues. A series of round table discussions between search engines and copyright owners chaired by my noble Friend Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister for Intellectual Property, have been productive and work continues on these important matters.

Science: Research

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether (a) the Centre for Life in Newcastle and (b) other service centres are eligible for funding from his Department's Inspiring Science Capital Fund.

Greg Clark: The Inspiring Science Capital fund is currently in an early stage of development. The eligibility for funding will be confirmed in due course.

Adult Education

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many adults were enrolled on (a) Level 4, (b) Level 5 and (c) Level 6 courses in England in each of the last five years.

Greg Clark: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Investment

Dr Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to encourage asset owners to do more to engage with investee companies as part of their stewardship duties.

Jo Swinson: The Government has taken a variety of significant steps to promote stewardship and engagement on the part of institutional investors. A key focus has been to work closely with the investment industry on initiatives involving both institutional investors and asset managers, acknowledging that while some institutional investors engage directly with companies, many others delegate to asset managers to engage on their behalf.Specific achievements include:a strengthening of the Stewardship Code to emphasise engagement on companies’ long-term strategy;the creation of an Investor Forum to improve the amount and effectiveness of collective engagement by key institutional investors;the development, by the National Association of Pension Funds, of a new Stewardship Disclosure Framework to encourage asset managers to report on their activities and to enable investors to hold them to account. The Government has comprehensively reformed the legislative framework for corporate reporting to boost transparency on company directors’ remuneration and ensure annual reports are more focused on long-term company strategy. In this way we are encouraging companies to report the information which is relevant to long-term stewardship investors.The Law Commission’s report on the fiduciary duties of investment intermediaries, commissioned by the Government, concluded that fiduciary investors such as pension scheme trustees should consider whether and how to engage with companies to promote their long-term success, either directly or through their investment managers. The Government is now taking forward the Law Commission’s recommendations in a number of areas, including by consulting currently on whether the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005 should be amended to require trustees to state their policy on stewardship with reference to the Stewardship Code.This work has been part of a broader commitment – in response to the Kay Review of equity markets - to address the longstanding concern that short-termism has impeded the creation of sustainable value by British companies. The Government published a comprehensive progress report on the implementation of the Review in October 2014. This is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/367070/bis-14-1157-implementation-of-the-kay-review-progress-report.pdfThe Government is now undertaking further work in a number of areas, including:supporting the work of the Financial Reporting Council to monitor how signatories to the Stewardship Code are delivering against their commitment;supporting the work of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) to develop “Red Line Voting” – an initiative which will enable pension schemes and other investors to adopt common voting positions on a range of governance issues; and research to examine how shares are held by institutional and individual investors – to provide an insight into how the Government can encourage greater investment engagement.

Adult Education: Leeds

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what non-apprenticeship adult skills budget was allocated for Leeds City College in 2014-15; and what such allocation he plans to make in 2015-16.

Nick Boles: The non-apprenticeship adult skills budget allocated for Leeds City College in 2014-15 is attached.



Leeds City College non-apprenticeships budget
(Word Document, 14.21 KB)

Ouija Boards

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will bring forward legislative proposals for regulating the sale of ouija boards.

Jo Swinson: The Government has no plans to regulate the sale of Ouija boards.

Arms Trade: Export Controls

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Government's response to the First Joint Report of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, Cm 935, published in October 2014, what progress has been made on the review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Clarion Events and the Export Control Organisation; and if he will publish the (a) findings of that review and (b) revised MoU.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Adult Education: York

Sir Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2015 to Question 226805, where in the weblinks provided the information requested can be found on how much the Government has made available in adult skills funding in (a) York Central constituency, (b) City of York Council and (c) all areas using York College in 2015-16; how much such funding was made available in each of the last six years (i) in cash terms and (ii) at current prices; and if he will place in the Library a table showing that information.

Nick Boles: I refer the hon. Member to my previous answer of 12 March 2015 to Question UIN 226806. Adult skills funding is made available to further education providers, not local areas. The funding system is demand led and money follows the learners.Allocations for 2015-16 are available on the Skills Funding Agency website. Historic allocations are also available on the Skills Funding Agency website.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2005-to-2013https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015To offer accountability as to how allocations money is spent we publish tables showing a summary of learning associated with each provider. For York College in 2012/13, see row 1,235 in the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310265/feandskills-learners-by-provider-local-authority-learner-characteristics-1213.xlsIt should be noted that in any given area, learners are supported by a range of different providers. For a summary of further education providers and their delivery in the York local authority in 2012/13, see rows 53,186 to 53,387 of the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349344/Jan14_Learners_Delivery_Local_Authority_District_ProviderLevel_1213.zipAll provider and local authority tables are published in the FE Data Library:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables

Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans to increase the resources and staffing available to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) enforce the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (both as amended).We have doubled EAS resource this financial year and will increase resource again for the financial year 2015/16. This additional resource is being used for targeted enforcement in high risk areas in order to protect the most vulnerable agency workers.In February, EAS inspectors led a targeted enforcement operation in the Sheffield area. They were accompanied by officers from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC’s) National Minimum Wage (NMW) team and, on some visits, by the Pensions Regulator.During the inspections of 15 employment businesses, EAS identified 32 potential breaches of the Conduct Regulations, as well as a potential breach of the Employment Agencies Act. Where breaches were identified, warning letters were issued and the agencies were required to change practices and demonstrate compliance or face further enforcement action.

Trade Promotion

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the total cost was of the GREAT campaign launch in Shanghai; what the cost was of each element of that launch; and if he will publish a list of attendees at that launch.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Trade Promotion

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the (a) total cost and (b) cost per area of expenditure was of the GREAT campaign launch in Los Angeles in February 2015; and who the attendees were at that launch.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Offenders: Literacy

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many literacy courses were enrolled on by offenders assessed as having a literacy need in each year since 2010.

Nick Boles: Information for each academic year since 2010/11 on prisoner participation in English and maths is published in the FE data library (first link) as a supplementary table (second link) to a Statistical First Release.   The number of prisoners participating who were assessed as having a literacy need was not recorded for these years.   https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fe-data-library   https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/382079/feandskills-OLASS-participation-and-achievement.xls

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Deployment

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what operations have involved the deployment of UK armed forces personnel since 2010.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what operations UK forces have served alongside the forces of other European counties in the last five years; and which countries participated in each operation.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



The following list includes significant operations carried out by the Ministry of Defence since 2010. Defence carries out a wide variety of operations, including many operations involving only a few personnel or which have a short duration. It is not possible within reasonable time and cost constraints to list all operations irrespective of size or duration. The list does not include the following standing commitments, which can also cover a range of operational activity: TaskContinuous At-sea DeterrenceCounter-terrorist policing of UK airspaceNATO air policing mission within EuropeMilitary support to national EOD capability in the UKStanding maritime patrol tasks, including UK and Overseas TerritoriesMilitary support to Search and Rescue Operations The list includes any EU states involved in operations under a common command and control structure. However, non-EU member states in Europe have also made important contributions alongside the UK. For example, Norway has served alongside the UK on several major recent operations, including in Afghanistan Syria and the response to the Ebola Crisis in Sierra Leone. An overview of operations each year can be found in the MOD’s Annual Report and Accounts.   ActivityEU StatesOperations in Afghanistan, including as a contributor to the International Security Assistance Force and Resolute Support MissionAustria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, SwedenOperations in Iraq, including subsequent training of Iraqi forces until 2011 under Op TELICBulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, SpainSupport to UN Stabilisation mission in Sudan and South SudanBelgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, SwedenUK support to EU NAVFOR under counter-piracy Op ATALANTA off the coast of SomaliaAustria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, SlovakiaSupport to UN Stabilisation mission MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of CongoBelgium, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Poland, Romania, SwedenNATO counter-piracy operation OCEAN SHIELDBelgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, SpainHumanitarian aid mission response to floods in PakistanNAMilitary support in severe cold weather in the UKNATransport of UK nationals following disruption of air travel by ash cloud from volcanic eruption in IcelandNAHaiti natural disaster reliefNAMilitary operations in Libya including support to NATO Op UNIFIED PROTECTORBelgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, SwedenMilitary support to evacuation of British Eligible Personnel from Libya, 2011NAMilitary support to security for the 2012 London OlympicsNA Support to removal and destruction of Syrian chemical weapons Denmark, GermanyHumanitarian aid response to natural disaster in the PhilippinesNASupport to French military operations and subsequent support to EU Training Mission (EUTM) and UN stabilisation mission (MINUSMA) in MaliEUTM: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain MINUSMA: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, SwedenMilitary support to security for G8 SummitNAMilitary support in response to East Coast floodingNAMilitary support to Dept of Communities and Local Government resilience plans to cover fire fighter industrial actionNAAir campaign against ISIL and associated training missions in Iraq and SyriaBelgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, SpainSearch for missing airliner MH370 in the Indian OceanNAMilitary operation to support Nigeria in response to Boko Haram abductions of female studentsFranceMilitary support to evacuation of British Eligible Personnel from Libya, 2014Malta (for basing)UK response to Ebola outbreak in Sierra LeoneDenmark, Ireland, The NetherlandsMilitary support in response to winter flooding in the UKNAMilitary support to security for Commonwealth Games in GlasgowNAMilitary support to security for NATO summit in WalesNASupport to EU Op ALTHEA mission in Bosnia and HerzegovinaAustria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, SwedenBaltic Air PolicingDenmark, Poland, FranceMilitary support to Department of Health resilience plans to cover ambulance driver industrial actionNASupport to French and subsequently EUFORCAR in the Central African RepublicBelgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Spain, SwedenDefence presence in the Gulf, including maritime security operations in the Gulf and counter-piracy operationsThe UK operates within the Combined Maritime Force, whose EU members are: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, SpainStabilisation support in East Africa, including counter-piracy, counter-narcotics, counter terrorism; and capacity building for counter-terrorism, border security, aviation securityEUTM Somalia: Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, SwedenSupport to UNFICYP mission in CyprusAustria, Croatia, Hungary, SlovakiaNATO maritime policing of Mediterranean under Op ACTIVE ENDEAVOURAlthough this task is supported by NATO members, the UK has primarily operated with France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain

Military Aid: Emergencies

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what training his Department provides to military personnel on responding to emergencies and natural disasters; and how many such emergencies and natural disasters personnel of his Department have responded to since 2010.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 11 March 2015



Military personnel are trained in a range of skills which can be applied to emergency and natural disaster response. On top of this we routinely provide specific training for personnel deploying on humanitarian and disaster response operations in the UK and overseas. For example we have provided a specific Ebola treatment course at our base in Catterick for medical personnel deploying to Sierra Leone. Since 2010, military personnel have responded to 10 significant emergencies and natural disasters overseas and six at home. UK personnel have responded to a number of smaller domestic emergencies in the UK under Military Aid to the Civil Authorities - for example, missing person searches. We also respond to a number of smaller emergencies abroad, for example, the Royal Navy takes part in numerous tasks during hurricane season in the Caribbean, under core tasks. We have defined 'significant' emergencies as those operations involving more than one hundred personnel. A list of which is given below. A list of all smaller emergencies could be provided only at disproportionate cost.  ActivityYearHumanitarian aid mission response to floods in Pakistan.2010Military support in severe cold weather in the UK.2010Transport of UK nationals following disruption of air travel by ash cloud from volcanic eruption in Iceland.2010Haiti natural disaster relief2010Military support to evacuation of British Entitled Personnel from Tripoli, Libya.2011Military support to security for the 2012 London Olympics2012Humanitarian aid response to natural disaster in the Philippines.2013Military support in response to East Coast flooding2013Military support to Dept of Communities and Local Government resilience plans to cover fire fighter industrial action.2013 - OngoingHumanitarian support to trapped Yazidi community on Mount Sinjar.2014Search for missing airliner MH370 in the Indian Ocean.2014Military support to evacuation of British Eligible Personnel from Tripoli, Libya.2014Military support in response to winter flooding in the UK.2014Military support to the Department of Health resilience plans to cover ambulance driver industrial action.2014Military operation to support Nigeria in response to Boko Haram abductions of female students.2014 – OngoingUK response to Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.2014 - Ongoing

Armed Forces: Domestic Violence

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many incidents of domestic violence were reported to the military police in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: Holding answer received on 16 March 2015



Domestic violence is a very important issue and we treat allegations of domestic violence very seriously. Where an allegation of domestic violence is made to the Service police and they retain jurisdiction, they will investigate the matter fully; or, if an allegation is being investigated by the Civil police, the Service police will provide assistance as required. However, domestic violence is not a crime classification, but can be recorded under the crime classification of violence; for example battery, assault or grievous bodily harm. For the Service police to establish which of such recorded offences are as a result of domestic violence would require an individual review of all cases, which could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Complaints

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps were taken by the Service Complaints Commissioner to provide full and proper determination of a service complaint submitted by Lt Col (Retired) R. H. Jolleys.

Anna Soubry: Holding answer received on 19 March 2015



The current Service Complaints Commissioner does not have the power to undertake investigations, and will therefore not have made a determination on this Service complaint. She can refer allegations of a wrong suffered by a current or former Service person to the relevant officer in the chain of command.

Research

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what amount his Department and its agencies spent on research and development in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion such spending was of total departmental spending.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Procurement

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what technologies are being developed with support from his Department's Small Business Research Initiative programme; and what assessment he has made of the future potential uses of those technologies.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department and its executive agencies and associated bodies were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Air Displays: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's policy is on RAF participation in and support for the Northern Ireland Airshow at Portrush in September 2015.

Mr Philip Dunne: Holding answer received on 20 March 2015



The RAF will be supporting the Northern Ireland Airshow at Portrush in September 2015, with Royal Air Force Typhoon, Hawk and Tutor aircraft; Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; and the Red Arrows.

Military Aircraft: Electricity

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what aircraft in use by UK armed forces operate a 270-volt electrical system.

Mr Philip Dunne: Lightning II, Rivet Joint, Sentinel aircraft and Merlin helicopters operate a 270 volt electrical system.

Gurkhas: War Memorials

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of Gurkha soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars are commemorated on war memorials.

Anna Soubry: The information requested is not held, as the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not responsible for War Memorials. However, the UK National Inventory of War Memorials, maintained by the Imperial War Museum, lists over 50 memorials that are linked to the Gurkhas, including one which is situated outside the MOD headquarters building in Whitehall.The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorate all those Gurkhas who died in the two World Wars and the names of those who have died since the end of World War II, whilst on duty, are inscribed upon the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum.

Staff

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of staff in (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies and associated bodies are former members of the armed forces.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of staff in (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies and associated bodies are members of the armed forces.

Anna Soubry: Information on the numbers of civilian staff in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) who previously served in the Armed Forces is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.As at 1 January 2015, the Ministry of Defence employed 160,700 Service personnel and 64,010 civilian staff. This equated to proportions of 71.5% and 28.5%, respectively. Further analysis of recent trends in Service and civilian personnel strengths can be found in Table 2.03.1 of the Department's 'Bulletin 2.03 - Service and Civilian Personnel' report (revised on 22 January 2015) which can be found at the following address:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/396759/Bulletin2.03_Personnel_Bulletin-Final_2014_Revised.pdf#page=8

Armed Forces Covenant

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much LIBOR funding to date has been awarded to organisations or projects that benefit from the wider armed forces community (a) nationwide, (b) in England, (c) in Northern Ireland, (d) in Scotland and (e) in Wales.

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales (i) have benefited and (ii) are expected to benefit from the LIBOR funding for armed forces and veterans' organisations that has been granted in each tranche to date.

Anna Soubry: For information on the distribution of the £35 million LIBOR Fund and the £40 million Veterans Accommodation Fund, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 March 2015, to Question 221590 to the hon. Member for Gedling (Mr Coaker).http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-01-21/221590/Subsequent to that answer there been two further announcements about LIBOR funded projects: Gurkha Homes Project: £960,000 to Gurkha Homes Limited for various locations across England. Scottish Veterans' Garden City Association (SVGCA) Future Shared Ownership Consortium: £551,190 for Houses for Heroes in Scotland. As the hon. Member will have seen, the Chancellor announced in the Budget on 18 March that a total of £450 million of LIBOR fines had been used by this Government to support the Service charities and other good causes, including a further £75 million of funding over the next five years. The Ministry of Defence does not hold information on the numbers of people who have benefited, or who may benefit, from this funding. However, given the scope of some of these projects, we anticipate that - at a minimum - this will run into the tens of thousands.   



Hansard Extract Tuesday 3 March 2015
(Word Document, 26.5 KB)

Reserve Forces

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reserves have been called up for service since the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010; where those reserves have served; and in what capacity those reserves served.

Mr Julian Brazier: Since 2010 more than 10,000 Reservists have been mobilised in a variety of roles on operations worldwide including Iraq, Afghanistan and the London 2012 Olympics.As at 28 February 2015, around 400 Reservists are mobilised. More than 60 Reservists have been mobilised so far to assist in efforts to resolve the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone. The majority of these are Army Reservists filling medical roles in the Kerry Town Treatment Unit and who I saw depart the UK last December, from Brize Norton.

Joint Cyber Reserve

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual targets are for recruitment to the Joint Cyber Reserve.

Mr Julian Brazier: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 March 2015 to Question 225462. http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=225462



225462 - Kevan Jones - Cyber Reserve
(Word Document, 31.5 KB)

Afghanistan

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the (a) withdrawal from Afghanistan and (b) environmental clean-up in Afghanistan has cost to date; and how much has been spent on each element of each cost.

Mr Mark Francois: The current estimate of the net additional cost of the redeployment of UK armed forces from Afghanistan up until the end of February 2015 was £212 million, including £12 million for the remediation of UK-managed sites across Afghanistan.

Warships

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what frontline Royal Navy ships are currently in refit.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Warships

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Royal Navy ships are currently in extended readiness; and when those ships will be available for service.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Commando Brigade

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the Order of Battle of the Commando Brigade.

Mr Mark Francois: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 5 November 2014 to Question 210649.http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&member=116&uin=210649



210649 - Nicholas Soames - Marines
(Word Document, 62 KB)

Warships

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Royal Navy ships are currently available for operational service.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Afghanistan

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of vehicles and equipment earmarked for return from Afghanistan (a) have been returned, (b) have been processed, (c) remain in transit and (d) remain in Afghanistan.

Mr Mark Francois: All vehicles and equipment earmarked for return to the UK from Aghanistan following the end of combat operations have left Afghanistan. As at 20 March 2015, approximately 93% of vehicles and major pieces of equipment earmarked for return to the UK have been returned, with 7% remaining in transit. 99.9% of other freight (measured by volume and consisting mainly of smaller items packaged on pallets or in ISO containers or their equivalents) has been returned, with 0.1% still in transit. Of the vehicles and major pieces of equipment returned to the UK, approximately 11% remain under the repair and overhaul process. The rest have had any necessary repairs completed. UK vehicles and equipment remaining in Afghanistan are there for the purposes of ongoing operations to assist the Government of Afghanistan and are not earmarked for immediate return.

Afghanistan

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many locally-employed Afghan interpreters who worked alongside the British Army have (a) applied for relocation to the UK and (b) been resettled in the UK under his Department's resettlement package to date.

Mr Mark Francois: A total of 395 locally employed staff who worked alongside us in Afghanistan, largely interpreters, have applied for relocation to the UK through the ex-gratia redundancy scheme. Of these, 77 have settled in the UK with 67 family members. We expect relocations to continue at a rate of around 30 per month.

Service Complaints Ombudsman

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential need for an increase to the budget of the Office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman arising from (a) changes to the powers of the Ombudsman as a result of the Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill and (b) the inclusion of issues of delay in the remit of the Ombudsman.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the contribution of the Minister of State for Defence of 9 March 2015, Official Report, column 47, on Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill, whether his Department has reached a decision on whether to transfer the outstanding unresolved complaints within the existing service complaints system to the remit of the new Service Complaints Ombudsman.

Anna Soubry: The assessment of whether a budget increase will be required is still under way; we are working with the Service Complaints Commissioner to fully consider the staffing and resource implications of amendments to the draft legislation for the Ombudsman's office. We are urgently considering the transitional arrangements to the new system, including whether to transfer the outstanding unresolved complaints from the existing Service complaints process to the new system.

Military Bases: Germany

Gemma Doyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel, dependents and civilian staff from his Department are based in Germany.

Mr Mark Francois: As at 31 January 2015, there were around 10,600 Armed Forces personnel serving in Germany. There were also around 11,300 dependants, 700 civilian staff and 2,500 locally employed civilians.

Employment Agencies

Gemma Doyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been paid to recruitment agencies by (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies and associated bodies in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Employment Agencies

Gemma Doyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which five recruitment agencies have received the largest total amount of money from (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies and associated bodies since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Military Bases: Germany

Gemma Doyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been spent on the planned withdrawal from Germany under the Army Basing Plan to date; and what progress has been made on that withdrawal to date.

Anna Soubry: Since the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010 and Ministerial announcement in March 2013, there has been significant progress taking forward the Army Basing Plan.To date more than 30 moves have been completed, largely in the UK, with 14 force elements planned and preparing to move from Germany in 2015, and an additional two also moving this year under Project Borona.To date some £82 million has been spent on the withdrawal of troops from Germany under the Army Basing Plan.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people were recruited to the regular army, navy and air force between 1 January 2015 and 15 March 2015; and what the targets were for such recruitment in each such category.

Mr Julian Brazier: The number of people who joined the UK Regular Forces in the period 1 January - 31 January 2015 (the latest available date) is set out below.Navy310Army820RAF200Note: figures show intake to UK Regular Forces, both trained and untrained, which comprises new entrants, re-entrants, direct trained entrants (including professionally qualified Officers) and intake from the reserves. They exclude all movements within the Regular Forces; including flows from untrained to trained strength, transfers between Services and flows from Ranks to Officer due to promotion.Recruitment targets for each of the Services are calculated on an annual rather than monthly basis and are therefore not included here.

Army Reserve

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many former regular soldiers joined the Army Reserve in each year since 2010; and how much has been paid to such individuals as an incentive to join the Reserve.

Mr Julian Brazier: The data relating to the numbers of ex-soldiers joining the Army Reserve is detailed below:  Financial Year 2010-112011-122012-132013-14April 2014 - January 2015All Ex Regulars4905708201,1801,400Officers80100150210210Soldiers4104706709701,190 The current Commitment Bonus scheme, introduced in April 2014, provides staged payments over three years of up to £10,000 to ex-Regular personnel providing they meet a set of entry criteria relating to rank, length of Regular Service, levels of training, medical status and training obligations once serving in the Reserve. This replaced an earlier scheme launched in April 2013 that gave payments of up to £5,000 across three years, again providing an individual met the correct criteria. Details of both schemes are set out in the table below:   CohortKey Milestone 1Key Milestones 2Key Milestones 3Key Milestone 4Ex-Regular Lts/Capts Ex-Regular ORs Initial Scheme introduced in April 2013 £2,000 paid upon completion of Phase 2 officer training.£1,000 paid upon completion of the annual obligation applicable to the existing Regional Annual Bounty, referred to as Yr 1.A further £1,000 paid upon completion of the subsequent year’s annual obligation applicable to the existing Regional Annual Bounty, referred to as Yr 2.A final £1,000 paid upon completion of the subsequent year’s annual obligation applicable to the existing Regional Annual Bounty, referred to as Yr 3.Ex-Regular Lts/Capts Ex-Regular ORs Enhanced scheme introduced in April 2014 (current scheme members automatically transferred to new scheme for all subsequent payments) £2,000 paid six months after qualification within respective Career Employment Group and completion of 14 Man Training Days.£3,000 paid upon completion of the annual obligation applicable to the existing Regional Annual Bounty, referred to as Yr 1.A further £3,000 paid upon completion of the subsequent year’s annual obligation applicable to the existing Regional Annual Bounty, referred to as Yr 2.A final £2,000 paid upon completion of the subsequent year’s annual obligation applicable to the existing Regional Annual Bounty, referred to as Yr 3.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Fire Services

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) whole-time and (b) part-time firefighters there were in (i) Northamptonshire and (ii) England in each of the last 10 years.

Penny Mordaunt: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



The numbers of (a) whole-time and (b) retained duty system fire fighters in (i) Northamptonshire and (ii) England, as at the end of March in each of the last 10 years, are shown in the attached tables alongside the number of fire incidents attended:



Table of Whole Time and RDS Firefighters
(Word Document, 25.12 KB)

Domestic Visits

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which parliamentary constituencies he has visited in an official capacity in 2014.

Kris Hopkins: Holding answer received on 01 December 2014



I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) on 24 February, Question 208006.

Leasehold: Tower Hamlets

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the appropriateness of leaseholder repair charges levied by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: My Department has recently received a number of letters from leaseholders complaining about how much they are being charged by Tower Hamlets Homes (an arms length management organisation for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) in relation to major improvements and repair works to their homes. Examples have been given of service charges of around £35,000. Some of the complaints have also asserted that the commissioning of the works is flawed or even corrupt. I have asked my officials for advice on whether we can make an assessment of the appropriateness of these charges. In the meantime, we will be forwarding copies of the correspondence from leaseholders to Mazars, who have been appointed to provide an independent verification for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets of the decent homes funding grant claims. Notwithstanding my Department’s review, I am disappointed with the aggressive and unsympathetic approach of the council, and this is yet another sign of how the actions of the Tower Hamlets administration have harmed the good reputation of local government.

Empty Property: Shops

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the length of time that vacant shops remain empty.

Penny Mordaunt: Our town centres and high streets have undergone dramatic changes over the last decade- the rise of online shopping, the effect of out of town retail parks and huge shifts in consumer spending patterns have all offered significant challenges. However, despite this, our high streets and town centres have fought back and up and down the country teams of local people are working hard to make our high streets great places to visit, live or work. A recent study from Southampton University showed how high streets are facing these challenges head on, meeting customers’ needs by offering a more convenient, creative and varied shopping experience, which increasingly offers more leisure opportunities. Furthermore, since 2010 national vacancy rates have continued to fall. Recent research by Deloitte showed that since 2009, high street vacancies as a result of high-profile administrations had been filled more successfully than those in out-of-town shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks. However the Government is not complacent and understands that the town centre needs to continue to evolve towards the provision of services and leisure alongside traditional retail. We are committed to supporting our high streets to embrace that change and to continue to hold their place at the heart of our communities. The Government has taken a number of significant steps to tackle vacant shops. We have relaxed planning rules to support “meanwhile use” as well as introducing new permitted development rights making it simpler to change use, so making it easier for businesses to respond to the needs of their communities. We have also taken forward a range of measures to tackle over-zealous parking enforcement that undermines the vitality of town centres, driving people out of town. We are restricting the use of CCTV ‘spy cars’ to enforce parking (through the Deregulation Bill currently going through Parliament). We have introduced 10 minute ‘grace periods’ when parking on-street allowing additional parking time before a late penalty is imposed, which will come into force in early April. We have published new statutory guidance allowing local people and businesses to demand a review of parking in their area, and we are reforming parking guidance so it is less heavy handed with motorists. The Government has also introduced a range of support for high streets through business rates. As well as offering business rate discounts to new occupants of previously empty shops, the Government has doubled Small Business Rate Relief for a further year (2015-16) and offered a 2% cap on the inflation increase for 2015-16, for the second year. This comes in addition to funding 50% of all local discounts granted, increasing the temporary discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 and offering a 100% rate relief for empty new builds. Finally, as announced at Autumn Statement 2014, the Government is also undertaking a long-term and wide-ranging review of business rates to ensure they are fit for purpose for a 21st century economy and allow our high streets to thrive. We have also championed the innovative use of vacant shops through the Great British High Street Competition. A number of the entrants set out the innovative ways that they are tackling empty shops on the high streets and we have promoted their examples on the Great British High Street Portal and through documents such as Celebrating the Great British High Street.

Council Housing: Construction

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many council homes have been constructed since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: The number of local authority new homes built in England since April 2010 is 6,340. In England, council house building starts are now at a 23 year high and twice as many council homes have been built in the last 4 years than from 1997 to 2009. Previously, councils were not encouraged to build new homes from sales receipts and only 1 new council home was built for every 170 Right to Buy sales completed under the last Administration. Since the Right to Buy was reinvigorated in England, £730 million in sales receipts are being re-invested in affordable house building; levering a further £1.7 billion of investment over the next 2 years. This means that in total, over £2.4 billion will be raised to invest in affordable house building as a result of the as a result of Right to Buy.

Non-domestic Rates

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the powers available to local authorities to collect unpaid business rates.

Kris Hopkins: We keep the business rates system under review and maintain an ongoing dialogue with local authorities. Local authorities achieved a national average in-year collection rate for non-domestic rates in England of 97.9% in 2013-14. The highest local authority collection rate is 99.8%, which illustrates the scope for other local authorities to increase their income by improving their collection rate.

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which news applications staff in his Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not authorise users to download and use news applications on their work-provided phones. The Department does not provide tablets. However, staff can access news websites through any in-built brower, if necessary.

Social Services

Mr John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of spending on adult social care in (a) Dorset, (b) Poole, (c) Bournemouth, (d) Hampshire, (e) Isle of Wight, (f) West Sussex, (g) Bracknell Forest, (h) Reading, (i) Slough, (j) West Berkshire, (k) Windsor and Maidenhead, (l) Wokingham, (m) Oxfordshire, (n) Wiltshire and (o) Swindon local authority areas in each year since 2010.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Translation Services

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2015, Official Report, column 7, on translation costs, what progress he has made in looking into the matter of British sign language translation services.

Stephen Williams: This is an issue which we take very seriously and my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) will be writing to the hon. Member fully on the matter shortly. Under the Equality Act 2010, public and private service providers are required to make reasonable adjustments to enable people with disabilities to access a service on an equal basis with a non-disabled person. Local authorities and other local agencies should provide a good quality service to all, and we encourage local people to hold their local authorities to account.

Staff

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of employees in his Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.

Kris Hopkins: Numbers and proportions quoted in this response are taken from the Department’s HR database as of 28th February 2015. Figures are based on the Office of National Statistics definition of headcount which includes all staff employed by and paid via the Department’s payroll. Staff that did not provide or consent to disclose their diversity information are not included in the headcount totals or proportions. (a) White or white British 1122 (79.6%) of employees identified themselves as White or White British. (b) Asian or Asian British, 124 (8.8%) of employees identified themselves as Asian or Asian British. In order to keep with the question, employees who identified themselves as Chinese are included in the total number and proportion. (c) Black or Black British 112 (7.9%) of employees identified themselves as Black or Black British. (d) Mixed or multiple ethnic group 27 (1.9%) of employees identified themselves as Mixed or multiple ethnic group. (e) another ethnicity 25 (1.8%) of employees identified themselves as another ethnicity. 269 employees did not provide or consent to disclosure of their diversity information. As of 28th February 2015 the Department had a total Black and Minority Ethnic rate of 20% which is higher than the current Civil Service rate of 10% for 2014. The Department’s declaration rate of 84% as of 28th February 2015 is also higher than the current Civil Service declaration rate of 79%.* *Civil Service Black and Minority Ethnic rates taken from 2014 Office of National Statistics statistical bulletin.

McDonalds Restaurants

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2015 to Question 227530, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on the planning system of the decision by McDonald's to move from business to residential areas; and whether he plans to offer guidance to local authorities on taking decisions on applications for planning permission arising from that decision in this matter.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Hampshire

Mr John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of spending on adult social care in (a) Portsmouth and (b) Southampton local authority areas in each year since 2010.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Local Government: Yorkshire and the Humber

Sir Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to allow City of York Council to join the West Yorkshire Combined Authority; whether the new city deal announced in the Budget for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority will apply also to City of York Council; when City of York Council first notified his Department of its wish to join the West Yorkshire Combined Authority; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The West Yorkshire governance review, published in July 2013, stated the wish for the area of the City of York Council to be included in the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, should the necessary legislative changes be made. The Government is committed to ensure that the combined authorities’ legislation is appropriate. Following its recent consultation, the Government intends shortly to lay a draft Legislative Reform Order which, if approved and made during the next Parliament, would give greater flexibility to enable - for example – local authority areas which do not all share a boundary but which are in same functional economic area, to form or join a combined authority. Changes can be made to an existing combined authority on the approval of Parliament. If York and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority wish for York to join the Combined Authority, and if the statutory conditions are met and there is wide local support, this Government would seek Parliament’s approval to make this change. The devolution deal announced on 18 March includes the City Of York.

Better Care Fund

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that the Better Care Fund helps councils provide services faster and with improved value for money.

Kris Hopkins: The Better Care Fund aims to keep people well and independent at home, delivering better care and value for money. Through locally led Better Care plans, local areas will spend over £2 billion on protecting social care, supporting over 2,500 more people to live independently rather than move to a care home.

Non-domestic Rates

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the local economic benefits arising from the small business rate relief scheme.

Kris Hopkins: We have doubled the level of small business rate relief since October 2010. For 2015-16, this means an estimated 400,000 properties are paying no rates at all, while a further 200,000 properties are benefitting from tapered relief. Small businesses will also benefit from other measures in our £1.4 billion package of support for 2015-16 bills, including the 2% cap on the increase of the small business rates multiplier for two years and the £1,500 discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000. They will also benefit from wider support for small businesses. Business rates are a proportionately higher fixed cost for small businesses as compared to large. The doubling of Small Business Rate Relief therefore provides targeted support to reduce small businesses’ tax burden.

Housing: Construction

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to explore the use of flat-pack housing as a means of tackling housing shortages.

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of flat-pack housing as a solution to housing shortages in rural areas.

Brandon Lewis: This Government wants to see high quality housing built quickly and efficiently and is working closely with the housebuilding industry to encourage take up of innovative approaches, including advanced housing manufacturing construction. The Government commissioned an industry-led Off-Site Housing Review report which was published in February 2013 and is available on the Construction Industry Council’s website at:http://cic.org.uk/news/article.php?s=2013-02-28-cic-presents-housing-minister-with-offsite-housing-review-report.  We are also encouraging the use of innovative construction techniques through our national planning guidance, published in March 2014, and our Affordable Homes 2015-18, Build to Rent and Housing Zones programmes. In addition, Ministers have made a number of visits to housing developments recently, highlighting the quality and speed of construction benefits that advanced manufacturing can bring.

Forced Labour

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2015 to Question 221886, how many cases of forced labour have been found by local authorities during pro-active inspection of houses of multiple occupation in the last five years; and what training his Department provides to officials in local authorities on (a) the indicators of forced labour and (b) working with victims of trauma.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Landlords

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2015 to Question 221886, when he expects the updated guidance to local authorities on dealing with rogue landlords to be published.

Brandon Lewis: The guidance was published on 13 March and can be accessed at:www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-the-private-rented-sector-and-tackling-bad-practice-a-guide-for-local-authorities.

Immigration

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what level of net migration was assumed in his Department's 2012-based household projections for England.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Recycling: Lancashire

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much waste was recycled in (a) Pendle constituency and (b) Lancashire in 2009-10 and each subsequent year.

Kris Hopkins: The levels of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting in a) Pendle Borough Council and b) Lancashire County Council in those years is set out in the table below: 2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/14Pendle35.6%38.0%37.6%35.9%36.7%Lancashire44.9%46.0%46.8%47.6%47.4%

HM Treasury

Fuels: Prices

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the relationship between the global price of oil and the cost of petrol in the UK.

Priti Patel: The crude oil price is currently around $60 per barrel having fallen around 45 per cent since their peak in June last year.   The fall in crude oil prices are being passed through in lower prices at petrol pumps. The average price of petrol has fallen by 15.3 per cent from its peak of 131 pence per litre in July last year to 111 pence per litre. Average diesel prices have fallen by 14.5 per cent from their peak last year.   The government has made very clear that it will watch industry to ensure that savings from the fall in oil prices are being passed through to consumers.

National Savings Bonds: Pensioners

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the issue of pensioner bonds in January 2015, what lessons his Department has learnt on the ability of online application systems and telephone enquiry services to deal with large numbers of applicants, in planning for new public bond issues.

Andrea Leadsom: The 65+ “Pensioner” Bond has had the biggest opening sales of any retail financial product in Britain’s modern history. National Savings & Investments website remains the easiest route by which to invest and provide immediate assurance that an application has been received. In advance of the launch NS&I doubled the size of their call centres, and added further staff to help manage the high call volumes. Customers can also invest by making a postal application.

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Mary Creagh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department has allocated to the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Danny Alexander: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) was formed during Spending Round 2013 so only has a budget from 2015/16, so there are no figures for 2014/15. The resources allocated in 2015/16 are £1,033m.

Tax Evasion

Mr William Bain: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many individuals and companies have been prosecuted for tax evasion in each of the last five financial years.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is not a prosecuting authority. Where cases do proceed to the criminal courts the prosecution is carried out by the relevant independent prosecuting authority. This is the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in Scotland, and the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI). Prosecutions for criminal offences are only instigated against individuals, not companies.   This Government has invested over £917million over this Parliament which has seen the volume of mass market evasion prosecutions implemented as a result of HMRC Criminal Investigations increase fivefold.  The table below shows all prosecutions arising from HMRC criminal investigations including those for money laundering, other prohibitions and restrictions and other non-fiscal offences.   YearTotal number of persons prosecuted as a result of HMRC Criminal Investigations2010-114202011-125452012-137702013-14915  The following table excludes cases prosecuted for money laundering, other prohibitions and restrictions and other non-fiscal offences as included in the table above and shows prosecutions for tax evasion offences only.  YearTotal number of persons prosecuted for tax evasion as result of HMRC Criminal Investigations2010-113722011-125012012-137392013-14880  HMRC is not able to supply a time series of full year prosecution decisions and convictions resulting from their criminal investigations for years up to 2009–10. Complete, comparable data is only available from 2010–11 onwards.

Self-employed: Tax Avoidance

Pamela Nash: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many IR35 cases brought to tribunal led to (a) prosecution and (b) acquittal in each of the last five years.

Pamela Nash: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many IR35 cases brought to tribunal led to (a) prosecution and (b) acquittal in each of the last five years.

Mr David Gauke: Four IR35 cases have progressed to Tribunal in the last 5 years, all in 2011.   These tribunal actions represented civil litigation and in all four cases the customer’s appeal was allowed. All IR35 enquiries have been carried out using civil investigation powers, IR35 being anti-avoidance tax legislation. Where Tribunal hearings are required these would be on the basis of civil rather than criminal action, so there is no question of prosecution or acquittal, and customer appeals against tax charges are either allowed or dismissed.

Natural Resources

Joan Walley: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce further incentives to encourage resource efficiency.

Priti Patel: This Government is committed to encouraging resource efficiency. The resource and waste management sector has grown faster than the wider economy over the past two decades, while waste arisings have fallen. We are extracting significantly more economic value from each tonne of waste managed by the sector, a 43% increase from £32 to £46 per tonne since 2004. As such, there are already a number of incentives in place to promote resource efficiency, for example:   Landfill Tax has reduced the amount of waste going to landfill by approximately 65% since its introduction in 1996, and has contributed to a threefold increase in household recycling; Enhanced Capital Allowances enable the cost of investment in water and energy-efficient equipment to be written off against taxable profits of the period in which the investment is made; Government–funded Innovate UK is to invest up to £800k in feasibility studies into the business case for retaining value in durable goods through reuse, remanufacture or leasing/maintenance. This competition opened on 2 March 2015; Government is funding Action Based Research projects to explore innovative ways for businesses to develop more resource-efficient systems and products. £1.2m of support is being provided over the lifetime of the current round of projects; and Government are providing £17.9m funding in 2014-15 for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to support English businesses, industry, civil society organisations, as well as local authorities and households in realising the benefits of resource efficiency and improved resource management.

Revenue and Customs

Mr Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value is of HM Revenue and Customs' contract with Synnex-Concentrix UK; and whether the contract covers processing mandatory reconsideration of tax credit claims.

Mr David Gauke: The value of the contract was estimated at between £55m - £75m at contract award. This includes processing mandatory reconsiderations of tax credits claims. Synnex-Concentrix UK Ltd is supported in its work by experienced HM Revenue and Customs staff and is further subject to stringent assurance checks.  More details about the contract can be found at: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=97910033

Welfare Tax Credits

Mr Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest time taken to process a mandatory reconsideration for a tax credit claim is; and how many such mandatory reconsiderations are awaiting a decision.

Priti Patel: I refer the Rt Hon Gentlemen to my previous answer provided on the 4 March 2015 to Question 225361   http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-02-25/225361/   Annual statistics for the first year of operation are not yet available.

Business: North West

Mark Hendrick: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many small and medium-sized enterprises received money from the Funding for Lending Scheme in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) 2014.

Andrea Leadsom: The Funding for Lending Scheme is not a direct source of finance for businesses. The scheme was introduced in July 2012 to help to reduce elevated bank funding costs and incentivise lending to the real economy. It does this by providing funding to participating banks and building societies, the quantity of which is linked to their net lending performance. Individual lending decisions remain a commercial consideration for the bank or building society concerned. More broadly, gross lending to businesses in the UK has been increasing since 2012, particularly to SMEs. In 2014, gross lending to SMEs was £53bn; 24% higher than 2013 and 40% higher than 2012.

Cider: Excise Duties

Jesse Norman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many cider and perry producers are registered as exempt from paying duty in (a) Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency, (b) Herefordshire and (c) the UK.

Priti Patel: There are currently 475 cider and perry producers in the UK who are registered as exempt from paying excise duty on their production. There is no breakdown of this figure by parliamentary constituency.

Research

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what amount his Department and its agencies spent on research and development in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion such spending was of total departmental spending.

Andrea Leadsom: Information on the total amount of expenditure by HM Treasury on both research and development and the total departmental spending on services is publically available on gov.uk as part of the Country and Regional Analysis statistical release. This information covers 2009-10 through to 2013-14 and can be found at the following web link:   https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/country-and-regional-analysis-2014   This data can be accessed by using either the ‘interactive tables’ or the ‘database’.   The CRA is compiled from departmental spending data submitted to HM Treasury on services, split by sub-functions. This data that each department provides, uses internationally-agreed definitions called the Classifications of the Functions of Government (UN COFOG). These functions include and separately identify expenditure on various Research and Development activities.

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff in his Department and its executive agencies and associated bodies were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Andrea Leadsom: As part of HM Treasury’s transparency agenda figures for non-payroll staff are published on a monthly basis and can be found using the following link.   https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workforce-management--2   To go back further than the published 4 years would be at a disproportionate cost.

Remittances: Somalia

Rushanara Ali: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the reasons are for the time taken to open the safe corridor pilot for UK-Somalia remittances.

Rushanara Ali: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects the safe corridor pilot for remittances to Somalia to open.

Rushanara Ali: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the recent work undertaken by the Action Group on Cross Border Remittances.

Rushanara Ali: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what date it is planned that the Action Group on Cross Border Remittances will next meet.

Andrea Leadsom: The Action Group on Cross Border Remittances will next meet on Friday 27 March 2015. Over the past year, the group has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve trust and transparency in the money service business (MSB) sector and give banks greater confidence to deal with MSBs – and crucially remittances continue to flow to Somalia and other developing countries.   Working closely with the supervisors, the Action Group has initiated revised guidance to the MSB sector and for those banking MSBs. The National Crime Agency have worked collaboratively with the banking and MSB sectors to improve understanding of the risks and how they can be managed, and the Safer Corridor pilot has been initiated.   The Safer Corridor Pilot is implemented by the World Bank, and funded by the Department for International Development (DFID.) The World Bank is currently revising the design of the pilot based on feedback received from extensive consultation with key market players, including regulators, banks and MSBs. DFID expects the World Bank to complete the design by the end of April with a view to starting procurement soon after. Whilst this has taken time, it is also ensuring that the pilot will respond to the needs of all stakeholders and increasing the chances of the pilot achieving its desired impact.

Football: Income Tax

Mr Mike Hancock: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information HM Revenue and Customs holds on the number of football players in the English Premier League who pay no tax in the UK from their earnings.

Mr David Gauke: The information requested is not available.

Children: Day Care

Alison McGovern: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Government intends to promote take-up of the tax-free childcare scheme; and what budget he is allocating for that purpose.

Alison McGovern: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects registration for the tax-free childcare scheme to open; and when the first payments under that scheme will be delivered.

Alison McGovern: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what performance indicators he has agreed with NS&I for the delivery of tax-free childcare; how often NS&I will be benchmarked against those indicators; and what penalties he has agreed for poor performance against those indicators.

Priti Patel: Tax-Free Childcare will provide support to hard-working families for childcare costs. The introduction of TFC will give almost two million families the opportunity to receive up to £2,000 per annum of support per child, via a new simple online system. We will deliver this important support as soon as possible.   HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are working closely together to ensure that HMRC is funded to deliver Tax-Free Childcare in a way that provides value for money for the taxpayer. The costs of the scheme are yet to be finalised and will be confirmed once the full details have been settled with the appointed account provider for the scheme.

Staff

Gloria De Piero: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of employees in his Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.

Andrea Leadsom: The Treasury publishes information about the diversity of its workforce in its Annual Report and Accounts.

Inheritance Tax

Pamela Nash: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much unpaid inheritance tax was outstanding from estates notified for probate valued up to £1 million in each year since May 2010.

Mr David Gauke: The information requested is currently not available.

Mortgages: Tax Allowances

Pamela Nash: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many recipients there were of mortgage interest relief in each year since May 2010; and how much such relief was awarded in each year.

Mr David Gauke: The information is not available. HMRC’s administrative systems do not separately identify mortgage interest payments from other financial costs incurred across all types of property businesses.

Pensions: Tax Allowances

Pamela Nash: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many recipients there were of higher-rate pension tax relief in each year since May 2010; and how much such relief was awarded in each such year.

Mr David Gauke: The estimated exchequer cost arising from income tax relief on contributions made to private pensions, and relief on the investment returns to private pensions in 2013-14 was £34.3bn[1]. Income tax on pensions in payment in the same year was £13.1bn, resulting in a net cost of pensions tax relief of £21.2bn in 2013-14.   The proportion of the cost of income tax relief on pension contributions for varying income ranges and years, is provided in the table below.  % of the cost of income tax relief on contributionsIncome bands2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-142014-15Up to £19,9998%6%5%6%5%5%Between £20,000 and £44,99931%32%35%37%37%36%Between £45,000 and £74,99925%26%28%32%33%34%Between £75,000 and £99,9997%8%8%10%10%10%Between £100,000 and £149,9998%9%9%7%8%8%£150,000 or more20%18%14%8%7%7%All100%100%100%100%100%100%   Estimates are based on Surveys of Personal Incomes with projections for 2012-13 onwards. Projected years are subject to uncertainty.  [1] This is published in HMRC National Statistics table PEN6, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/registered-pension-schemes-cost-of-tax-relief  Figures for 2013-14 are the latest available.

Personal Income

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what change there has been in net annual income for a person earning £24,000 gross per annum as a result of changes to personal allowances and national insurance contributions since 2010.

Mr David Gauke: The increase in net annual income for a person earning £24,000 gross income between 2010-11 and 2015-16 is £924.  This is calculated using the following rates and thresholds which represent the changes in the personal allowance thresholds and the National insurance contributions rate and thresholds over this parliament.2010-112015-16Personal allowance£6,475£10,600Income Tax Basic rate20%20%Primary Threshold (NICs)£5,715£8,060Employee Primary Class 1 NICs rate11%12%   This assumes that the individual was born after 5 April 1948, is paying employee NICs (not contracted out), and has a gross income from pay only. The Income tax calculations assume no other allowances or deductions. The NICs is calculated on an annual basis which assumes a smooth distribution of the income across the year.

Tourism: South West

Mr Geoffrey Cox: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he has taken to support tourism in the South West.

Danny Alexander: The government has announced a number of policy measures to support tourism in the South West region including;   On 26 January during a visit to Plymouth the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £10 million package for the South West from round 3 of the Coastal Communities Fund to support regional growth including the tourism sector. He also announced a £2 million challenge fund as part of the GREAT Britain campaign to promote regions and cities including in the South West; and £100,000 government funding to support more Small and Medium sized Enterprises to attend a trade fair to promote South West tourism destinations to key international markets.   On 20 February in Bristol the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced £5 million funding towards the transformation of Colston Hall in Bristol into the only international standard concert hall in South West.   On 5 March the Deputy Prime Minister announced £5 million funding to boost tourism in the South West by creating a joined-up strategy for marketing the region.

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which news applications staff in his Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Andrea Leadsom: The answer to this question is none. Staff are not permitted to run executables and download applications to their HM Treasury provided device.

Marriage: Tax Allowances

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HM Revenue and Customs staff he expects to dedicate to administering the transferable marriage tax allowance (a) in its first year of operation and (b) each year thereafter; and what estimate he has made of the cost to HM Revenue and Customs of administering the transferable marriage tax allowance in (i) its first year of operation and (ii) each year thereafter.

Mr David Gauke: The estimated cost and the number of staff that will administer the Marriage Allowance remain as set out in the Tax Information and Impact Note at Budget 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293790/TIIN_2518_transferable_tax_allowance_for_married_couples_and_civil_partners.pdf

Pensions: Advisory Services

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether staff recruited to provide (a) face-to-face and (b) telephone guidance through the Government's Pension Wise scheme will have any specific training on scams and mis-selling.

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many trained staff delivering (a) face-to-face and (b) telephone guidance through the Government's Pension Wise scheme will be based in (i) England, (ii) Wales and (iii) Scotland.

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff have been recruited to provide (a) face-to-face and (b) telephone guidance through the Government's Pension Wise scheme.

Andrea Leadsom: All guidance specialists working for Pension Wise will receive high quality and rigorous training, whether they are delivering guidance face to face or over the phone. They will be required to pass a certificated test to demonstrate they have the necessary technical knowledge and guidance skills to deliver the guidance. The training programme is designed in accordance with FCA standards, and will be accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute, a well-respected professional standards body in the financial services industry.   One of the aims of guidance service is to promote consumer awareness of scams and practical tips on, for example, how to check whether a firm is regulated on the FCA’s register.   HM Treasury’s delivery partners, TPAS and Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland are currently recruiting guidance specialists. Recruitment strategies and the placement of guidance specialists are the responsibility of individual delivery partners.   On 9 March, Citizens Advice England and Wales, Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Northern Ireland published the names of the bureaux that will be delivering Pension Wise. 50 bureaux in England and Wales, 35 in Scotland and 19 in Northern Ireland will act as the main delivery centres for the service. These bureaux will be delivering appointments at hundreds of locations across the UK with the aim of providing good geographic coverage and ensuring the service is accessible across the UK.

Tax Allowances

Dr Julian Huppert: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the economic effect of the tax incentives introduced since 2010; and what criteria the Government uses to assess the real economic value of tax incentives.

Mr David Gauke: The Government believes that tax reliefs are an important part of the tax system and play a significant role in defining the scope of tax. In particular they can help create a fairer, simpler system which reflects the needs of a wide range of individuals and businesses.   The government outlines the rationale for, and expected impacts of, any tax policy changes, including new tax reliefs, in published Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs). TIINs also set out the government’s intentions with regard to monitoring and evaluating tax measures.   While tax reliefs can be used to pursue specific policy objectives, all reliefs reflect policy choices about the distribution of the tax burden, proposed by the government and agreed by Parliament.   The government is transparent about both the costs of existing reliefs and the costs and likely impacts of new reliefs. HMRC annually publishes information on the Exchequer cost of around 180 existing tax reliefs on its website. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility certifies the cost of all new tax reliefs or changes to existing reliefs.

Revenue and Customs: Cardiff

Ian Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take in relation to the future operation of the Cardiff tax office.

Ian Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take in relation to the future operation of the Wrexham tax office.

Ian Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he had discussions with the Welsh Government on the future of the Wrexham tax office; and what matters were discussed on those occasions.

Ian Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions have taken place with staff at the Wrexham tax office on the future of that office.

Ian Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with whom he consulted prior to making proposals on the future of HM Revenue and Customs offices in Wales as part of the Building our Future programme.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been discussing a vision of its future to 2020 and beyond with its workforce, through a consultation process called Building our Future. Through this, HMRC has outlined how it proposes to transform services to its customers and set out what this means for the future size, shape and location of the Department.All HMRC staff members in every office have been invited to participate in Building our Future events, and around 80 per cent of staff have attended around 1,300 events across the UK in the two phases held so far.HMRC also shared the main elements of this vision with MPs and Assembly Members in October 14. HMRC will continue to keep MPs and Assembly Members informed of the outcomes of these conversations.HMRC has set out its early thinking about the principles that will determine its future location strategy, which involves bringing teams closer together in a smaller number of large, modern, adaptable Regional Centres. These centres will be supported by a UK-wide network of smaller specialist and touchdown sites. HMRC has told staff that it believes that Cardiff is the most suitable location for a future Regional Centre in Wales, since it is already the biggest HMRC location in the country. However, no firm decisions have yet been made on the precise location or timing of a new HMRC Regional Centre in Cardiff or the nature and timing of impacts on other HMRC locations in Wales. HMRC will be developing its plans over coming months and will share details of them as they emerge. HMRC will naturally undertake all necessary consultations and impact assessments.

Energy: Tax Allowances

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a response to the 38 Degrees petition calling for active Government support for community energy co-operatives.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend eligibility for the Enterprise Industrial Scheme by two years to all co-operative energy suppliers.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to clarify when measures in the Autumn Statement 2014 which relate to the tax treatment of UK community energy co-operatives will take effect.

Mr David Gauke: The Autumn Statement 2014 announced that all community energy generation undertaken by qualifying organisations will be eligible for Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) with effect from the date of the expansion of SITR, at which point it will cease to be eligible for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) or the Venture Capital Trust scheme (VCTs). The government received a range of representations from various groups on the proposed change, including those made through the consultations held in summer 2014. To ensure a smooth transition, the Budget 2015 announced that there will be a transition period of six months following the confirmation of State aid approval for the expansion of SITR before eligibility for EIS, SEIS and VCTs is withdrawn for community energy organisations benefiting from subsidies for the generation of renewable energy. The government believes that this is an appropriate notice period providing clarity and stability for affected organisations.   Co-operatives do not qualify for SITR as they are run for the benefit of their members rather than for the benefit of the community. However, co-operatives with a social purpose and which meet other criteria can convert to a community benefit society by free application to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Those that remain co-operatives and benefit from subsidies for the generation of renewable energy will no longer be eligible for EIS, SEIS and VCTs following the end of the six month transition period.   The government continues to actively support the community energy sector more generally, which includes community energy co-operatives. The government continues to offer grant and loan development support through programmes such as the Rural Community Energy Fund, the Urban Community Energy Fund and the Green Investment Bank for UK community scale renewable energy projects.

Cooperatives

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the Financial Conduct Authority does not use the definition agreed by the International Labour Organisation of a co-operative society.

Andrea Leadsom: This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) who are operationally independent from Government.   This question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions Ministers in his Department had with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health on alcohol duty prior to the publication of the Budget 2015; what issues were raised during those discussions; and if he will make a statement.

Priti Patel: The Treasury Ministers discuss a variety of issues with Ministers from other government departments throughout the year, including the run up to Budget.

ICT: VAT

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on UK micro businesses of EU digital VAT legislation since its implementation on 1 January 2015; what discussions he has had with such businesses on the effect of that legislation; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke: A Tax Information and Impact Note was published on 10 December 2013 which included an assessment of the expected impact on small and micro businesses. It is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/264647/Overview_of_legislation_in_draft.pdf   I refer the Hon. Lady to the answer that I gave on 10 December 2014.

Parking: Fines

Richard Burden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether parking notices (a) constitute taxable supply and (b) are subject to VAT.

Richard Burden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received about issuing notices of fines without declarations of VAT by private parking companies; and what enforcement action he is taking against companies that fail to comply with the law in that way.

Mr David Gauke: VAT is not due on fines and similar penalties levied in connection with parking.

Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraphs 1.103, 1.122 and 2.231 of Budget 2015, on the availability of ultrafast broadband, what the Government's definition is of "available to".

Danny Alexander: In the specified Budget 2015 paragraph references, “available to” means that consumers should be able to access ultrafast broadband through a retail service, should they choose to take one up.

Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which contracts have been entered into by his Department or HS2 Ltd in relation to High Speed 2; what the timescales of those contracts are; and what penalties there are for early termination of each contract.

Mr Robert Goodwill: As part of the Government’s transparency agenda, the Department publishes information on contracts above the £10,000 threshold on Contracts Finder. This is subject to an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act or, where applicable, the Public Interest Test. A specific list of contracts into which DfT(c) has entered in relation to High Speed 2 is provided below. We have focussed our response on contracts which were let out from 1 April 2014 to 1 March 2015. We have also interpreted the term “contract” to mean base contract and did not include the substantive extensions. The information below includes contracts for contingent labour.   DfT(c) Contract NameContract start dateContract end dateHS2 Sponsor Team Commercial and Programme Management Specialists9/2/158/2/16HS2 Research Project (Capturing the value of major infrastructure: learning from Europe)23/6/1430/11/14HS2 Research Project (Ambitions & expectations – disseminating the insights. Phase 3 pt1)4/3/1531/3/15HS2 Logic Mapping11/8/1424/12/14HS2 Private Finance Study16/12/1431/3/15HS2 Strategic Case Consultancy7/11/1430/4/15HS2 Interim Financial Adviser Consultancy9/2/15 30/9/15 Behavioural Insight - HS2 Property19/09/1431/12/14Project Management Support to HS2 Property Programme22/09/14 31/03/14Tripartite Co-operation Board Chair1/07/1430/06/18Independent advisor to the SRO (Advisory Support to Director General, High Speed 2Group)1/01/1531/03/161 Contingent Labour worker2/12/142/06/151 Contingent Labour worker10/11/1427/02/15  The majority of the Department’s consultancy contracts for HS2 have been let against the Crown Commercial Service Consultancy One Framework Terms and Conditions. The framework terms and conditions do not have penalty clauses for early termination, but set out the rights and obligations for both the Department and the Contractor in the event of an early termination. The standard termination period for contingent labour worker is 30 days. The standard termination period for contracts issued under the Consultancy One Framework depends on the reason for termination and can be with immediate effect for a material breach, persistent failure or grave misconduct. The Department may at its absolute discretion under termination of convenience at any time and for any reason terminate the contracted services and work at the Department’s convenience by giving the Bidder five business days’ notice in writing of its intention to do so. A specific list of contracts into which HS2 Ltd has entered is provided in the attached table. 



227996 - Table HS2 Ltd - contracts awarded 
(Word Document, 20.97 KB)

London Bridge Station

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the Office of Rail Regulation to report its review of the circumstances that led to safety concerns for passengers using London Bridge station and serious delays on the service from that station.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Inspectors from the Office of Rail Regulation, in its role as the independent railway safety regulator, are investigating the circumstances behind the events at London Bridge on 3 March and the effectiveness of the measures Network Rail is putting in place to better manage these issues in future. This is a health and safety investigation and its purpose is to ensure that Network Rail has complied with the law and improves control of health and safety risks rather than to produce a published report.

Roads: Shrewsbury

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will consider providing national funding for the North West Relief Road scheme in Shrewsbury.

Mr Robert Goodwill: This Government is supportive of local efforts to promote growth and very aware that roads play a vital part in driving growth. Local areas are best placed to determine what local road schemes should be developed to address local problems. Funding for proposals, such as the North West Relief Road, has now been devolved to the Local Growth Fund. In July 2014 The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) secured £75.3m from the Government’s Local Growth Fund to support economic growth in the area and in January the LEP agreed an expansion to its growth deal which will see an extra £7.7m invested in the area between 2016 and 2021.

Roads: Torridge

Mr Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department is providing for the maintenance of rural roads in Torridge and West Devon.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to assist local authorities with the maintenance of rural roads.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government announced in December 2014 that we are allocating just under £6 billion for councils in England for local highways maintenance over the next six years for all local roads, including rural. This is in addition to the £4.7 billion we have provided to councils since 2010. The Department is providing Devon County Council with over £220 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 based on a needs formula for maintaining the roads for which they are responsible, including rural roads in Torridge and West Devon. It is entirely for the Council to decide on how this funding is allocated locally based on sound asset management principles.

Railway Stations: Access

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 12 March 2015 to Questions 226857 and 226812, which 33 stations were nominated for Access to All funding; and which 25 stations were selected for that funding.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Scottish stations nominated successfully were Barrhead, Blairhill, Cupar, Dalmuir, Dunblane, Dyce, Easterhouse, Elgin, Gleneagles, Hamilton Central, Hyndland, Kilmarnock, Kilwinning, Kircaldy, Linlithgow, Milliken Park, Montrose, Motherwell, Mount Florida, Newton, Perth, Rosyth, Rutherglen, Shotts and Westerton. Stirling was also successfully nominated but had to be withdrawn after a solution acceptable to local planners could not be found. The unsuccessful nominations were Aviemore, Burntisland, Cathcart, Coatdyke, Dumbarton East, Greenock West and Springburn.

Transport: Infrastructure

Sir Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value is per capita for people living in (a) London and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber of his Department's capital investment in (i) roads, (ii) railways, (iii) airports and (iv) all transport infrastructure between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

Mr John Hayes: Estimates for different types of identifiable Department for Transport capital expenditure per head (excluding expenditure by local authorities, public corporations and other Government Departments) is derived from the HM Treasury Country and Regional Analysis athttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380589/Country_and_Regional_Analysis_November_2014_Combined.pdf

Railway Stations: Air Pollution

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with officials from the Health and Safety Executive regarding worker exposure to diesel fumes at railway stations.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department has had no discussions with the Health and Safety Executive regarding worker exposure to diesel fumes at railway stations.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Israel

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Israeli government to stop the demolition of Umm al-Hiran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to follow the case of Um Il Hiran closely. The Adalah Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, who wrote the report ‘Nomads Against their Will’, issued in 2011, have briefed us on the legal updates since then. We understand the hardships facing the Bedouins of Um il Hiran and continue to study the situation in order to inform any future lobbying.Officials have also been in contact with several other organisations that work within the Bedouin community, such as Itach-Maaki and the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, to evaluate the best sort of support we can offer the Bedouin community in the Naqab/Negev.

Israel

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on plans to demolish Umm al-Hiran in the Negev.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to follow the case of Um Il Hiran closely. The Adalah Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, who wrote the report ‘Nomads Against their Will’, issued in 2011, have briefed us on the legal updates since then. We understand the hardships facing the Bedouins of Um il Hiran and continue to study the situation in order to inform any future lobbying.Officials have also been in contact with several other organisations that work within the Bedouin community, such as Itach-Maaki and the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, to evaluate the best sort of support we can offer the Bedouin community in the Naqab/Negev.

Israel

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department provides support to the civil rights organisation Adalah in Israel.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We do not provide financial support to Adalah but we are in close contact with them as well as a number of other organisations who are closely following the situation of Bedouins in Israel.

Israel

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to encourage the Israeli government to provide essential services to unrecognised villages in the Negev.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We continue to encourage the Israeli authorities and Bedouin communities to engage in dialogue to agree a satisfactory solution to this issue. The solution must respect the equality of all of Israel’s citizens in a way which avoids forced relocations, and be consistent with Israel’s commitments under international law.

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department and its executive agencies and associated bodies were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The number of staff in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its executive agencies and associated bodies engaged off-payroll for the last five years are stated in the table below. Our figure for 2014/15 is from 1st April 2014 to 28th February 2015¹.Year FCO2014/15 544¹2013/14 6182012/13 6662011/12 5342010/11 467Contingent Labour figures have been published since October 2013 as part of the FCO Workforce Management Information and are available at http://data.gov.uk/dataset/fco-workforce-management-information.

Sri Lanka

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2015 to Question 221023, what discussions (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with the new government of Sri Lanka.

Mr Hugo Swire: At the end of January I visited Sri Lanka where I met President Sirisena, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Foreign Minister Samaraweera, and a number of Deputy Ministers of the newly elected government. I was delighted to welcome Foreign Minister Samaraweera’s to the UK in February, which was followed by the visit of President Sirisena and Foreign Minister Samaraweera in March. During this visit the President had an audience with Her Majesty The Queen and met the Prime Minister, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Whitney (Mr Cameron), and the Secretary of State for Defence, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr Fallon). Foreign Minister Samaraweera also met the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and Minister of State for the Department for International Development, my right Hon. Friend the Member for New Forest West (Mr Swayne), as well as myself.Meetings focussed on the new Sri Lankan government’s plans to build lasting reconciliation across Sri Lanka, and encouraging Sri Lanka to deliver on its commitments to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In particular, the Prime Minister welcomed the early commitments announced by President Sirisena to lead a more democratic and accountable government but was clear that, meaningful engagement with the ongoing UN process ahead of its report in September is central to the UK’s continued support for Sri Lanka.Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in London and at the British High Commission in Colombo remain in regular and close contact with the new Sri Lankan government.

Burma

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is giving to the training of police in Burma.

Mr Hugo Swire: Since November 2013 twelve British police officers with specialist crowd management and public order experience have been deployed in support of an EU police training mission funded by the EU Instrument of Stability. The purpose of the project is to provide training on crowd management and community policing based on international standards and respect of humans. The project followed a request from the Burmese government and Aung San Suu Kyi for the UK and others, including the EU, for assistance reforming the Burmese police force. In January we also funded the attendance of two Burmese police officers at a regional course on the effective management of counter terrorism investigations, in line with international standards. We have made clear our concerns at the use of force by police in Letpadan on 10 March, and also by the use of irregular security groups in Rangoon on 5 March. These incidents undermined an otherwise disciplined approach to policing student protests and demonstrate the need for further policing reform. We support the EU’s call for a full investigation, and call on the government of Burma to release all remaining demonstrators.

Burma

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has discussed the Burmese government and the provision of aid to ethnic Rohingya in Burma with the UN Secretary General.

Mr Hugo Swire: I raised the situation in Rakhine State with the UN Secretary General at his "Friends of Myanmar" meeting in September 2013, and our Permanent Representative in New York has done so subsequently on a number of occassions with the Secretary General's Special Advisor Vijay Nambiar. We also work closely with the UN Resident Coordinator in Burma and UN agencies in Burma to discuss the provision of aid to the ethnic Rohingya in Burma.

Pakistan

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Pakistan against death sentences for crimes committed by juveniles in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We regularly raise our concerns at the death penalty in Pakistan and have pressed the Government of Pakistan at a minimum to restore the moratorium on the death penalty. It is our longstanding policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. Along with our EU counterparts in Pakistan, we have made clear UK concerns on Pakistan’s decision to resume executions. This includes concerns on specific cases, and the need for Pakistan to adhere to international obligations preventing the execution of juveniles.

Staff

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of employees in his Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Of the Foreign and Commonwealth’s 4,560 UK employees, 3,283 (71.9%) have disclosed their ethnic origin.Of these 3,283 staff, the following proportion have identified their ethnicity on the basis set out:a) White – 2,869 (87%)b) Asian or Asian British – 187 (6%)c) Black or Black British – 110 (3%)d) Mixed or multiple ethnic group – 75 (2%)e) Ethnicity other than the above – 42 (1%)These figures do not include the FCO’s 9,300 locally employed staff in our 268 overseas missions.

Pakistan

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Pakistan on the latest executions in that country; and if he will raise this issue at the current session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We regularly raise our concerns on the death penalty in Pakistan at the highest levels and have pressed the Government of Pakistan to restore the moratorium on the death penalty. It is our longstanding policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. Along with our EU counterparts in Pakistan, we have raised concerns about Pakistan’s decision to resume executions as well as concerns on a number of individual cases. We continue to raise our concerns at a bilateral and multilateral level. During the current session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), the UK welcomed growing global support for the UN resolution seeking a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Burma

Mr David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what review of his Department's co-operation with Burma's Home Affairs Ministry has been conducted.

Mr Hugo Swire: There has been no review of our cooperation with Burma’s Home Ministry.

Burma

Mr David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of whether elections due in Burma will be credible, free and fair.

Mr Hugo Swire: The 2015 parliamentary elections will be a watershed for Burma’s transition to democracy. They have the prospect to be the first legitimate elections since 1960. We have made clear to the Burmese government that we want to see inclusive and credible elections, underpinned by freedom of expression and a respect for human rights. The UK is taking steps to support the integrity of the electoral process. The Department for International Development has allocated around £25m over five years to strengthen democratic governance, including support to the elections. UK funding will support the provision of technical advice to the Burmese election commission, voter education and monitoring and observation of the electoral process. Dialogue between the key political actors will be critical to ensuring a successful outcome to the election. We encourage all of the main parties to maintain regular discussions in advance of the vote, to ensure a smooth process and a smooth succession to whatever government emerges in the next Parliament.

Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications of the recent crackdown on protesting students in Burma for the credibility of Burma's reform process; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire: We have made clear our concern about the use of force by police in Letpadan on 10 March and the use of irregular security groups in Rangoon on 5 March. These events undermined an otherwise disciplined approach to the policing of student protests over several weeks, and demonstrated the need for further policing reform. More broadly, Burma is moving from decades of authoritarian government to a more democratic system. Such a complicated transition will of course not be quick or easy and will require significant reform in all of its institutions, not least the police. The UK will continue to engage as appropriate to encourage this reform.

Colombia

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart to request that the Colombian government investigates and ensures appropriate action against the perpetrators of death threats towards (a) Senator Ivan Cepeda, (b) members of the organisation CPDH and (c) David Florez.

Mr Hugo Swire: We are concerned about recent threats made on 9-10 March against Congressman Ivan Cepeda, David Florez, members of the CPDH, and other prominent journalists, civil servants, human rights leaders and politicians, allegedly by the criminal group Las Aguilas Negras. Our Embassy in Bogota is following the developments in these cases closely. Colombian Minister of Interior Juan Fernando Cristo issued a public statement on 10 March ordering a police investigation, building on the investigation opened by the Attorney-General Office in January.Following similar threats in January, our officials in Bogota met with Presidential Office for Human Rights to urge the Colombian government to take measures to prevent threats against human rights defenders, trade unionists, civil society and politicians. Officials also met the Ministry of the Interior on 19 February 2015 and raised the issue of threats to human rights defenders.

Colombia

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make further representations to the Colombian government on the security of (a) Senator Ivan Cepeda, (b) members of the organisation CPDH and (c) David Florez.

Mr Hugo Swire: We are concerned about recent threats made on 9-10 March against Congressman Ivan Cepeda, David Florez, members of the CPDH, and other prominent journalists, civil servants, human rights leaders and politicians, allegedly by the criminal group Las Aguilas Negras. Our Embassy in Bogota is following the developments in these cases closely. Colombian Minister of Interior Juan Fernando Cristo issued a public statement on 10 March ordering a police investigation, building on the investigation opened by the Attorney-General Office in January. Following similar threats in January, our officials in Bogota met with Presidential Office for Human Rights to urge the Colombian government to take measures to prevent threats against human rights defenders, trade unionists, civil society and politicians. Officials also met the Ministry of the Interior on 19 February 2015 and raised the issue of threats to human rights defenders.

Gambia

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help the Gambian government to improve that country's human rights record.

James Duddridge: The UK is the only EU Member State to have a resident Ambassador in The Gambia. We therefore have a leading role in pressing for improved respect for human rights in The Gambia, and in ensuring that the issue remains prominent on the EU’s agenda. We raised our concerns when The Gambia’s human rights record was evaluated at the United Nations last October during the Universal Periodic Review and set out recommendations for action by The Gambia. We will reiterate our concerns during the follow-up sessions in Geneva later this month.The British Ambassador in Banjul also regularly raises human rights with senior members of the Gambian Government, and our Embassy provides funds that support human rights projects in the country. These include priorities such as women’s and children’s rights, access to justice and prisoner rights.

Burma

Mr David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government first became aware that Philip Blackwood, who is in custody in Burma, is a British citizen.

Mr Hugo Swire: The New Zealand Embassy in Burma made our Embassy in Rangoon aware of Mr Philip Blackwood’s case in 2014. They confirmed that Mr Blackwood travelled to the country on a New Zealand passport and they were providing consular assistance.We have not been given any information indicating that Mr Blackwood is a British national and Mr Blackwood has not approached our Embassy for assistance.

Climate Change: Conferences

Mr Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many official meetings representatives of the UK have attended in the run-up to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in late 2015; and who those representatives are.

James Duddridge: There are a range of official meetings under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in the run-up to the Conference of Parties (COP21) in December 2015. The UK is represented at these by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) with support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The delegation to the most recent meeting held in Geneva from 8 to 13 February was led by Peter Betts, Director International Climate Change at DECC.

Legal Costs

Mr Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies and associated bodies has spent on legal fees in each year since 2010; and if he will publish a detailed breakdown of that expenditure.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Secondment

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department have been seconded to which other Government departments, for what time periods and at what cost to his Department in each year since 2010.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The number of staff seconded to other government departments from 2012-2015 are as follows:2012 - 372013 - 802014 - 942015 - 103We do not hold accurate data for the number of secondments in 2010 and 2011 so have been unable to provide these figures.The number of staff seconded to each Government department is detailed below. However, we are not able to disclose where there were fewer than 5 staff members seconded to a department as this could potentially identify them. We also do not have an accurate breakdown by department for 2012.

Embassies: Foreign Workers

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of staff in each British (a) Embassy, (b) High Commission and (c) Consulate is classified as locally-engaged.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Information on the number of staff in each British (a) Embassy, (b) High Commission and (c) Consulate classified as locally-engaged can be found in the attached document. In addition, numbers of UK Based staff overseas are published in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Annual Accounts and Reports 2013/2014 and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-and-commonwealth-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-14--2. The FCO Annual Accounts and Reports for 2014/2015 will be published later this year.

Department for International Development

Syria

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, over what time period the £800 million committed by the Government in response to the conflict in Syria will be spent.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the £800 million committed by the Government in response to the conflict in Syria has been spent; and how much of that sum is earmarked for future spending.

Justine Greening: By the end of March 2015 we are expecting to have spent over £650 million and will have spent the full £800 million before the end of 2015.

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff in her Department and its non-departmental public body were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mr Desmond Swayne: Information on the number of off-payroll engagements in 2013/14 is included in DFID Annual Reporting. This information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfid-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014. Information on previous years can only be provided at disproportionate cost.   New tighter rules governing ‘off-payroll’ appointments in central government were established in May 2012 when the Chief Secretary to the Treasury published the Review of the Tax Arrangements of Public Sector Appointees.   The recommendations of the Review mean that the most senior staff must go on the payroll, and departments are now able to seek assurance in relation to the tax arrangements of their long-term, high paid contractors.   The Treasury has carried out two evaluations of compliance with the rules which were published on 11 March 2014 and 5 March 2015. The most recent review revealed that the large majority of central government departments are operating the rules effectively. The Treasury issued £3 million in fines in 2014 and 2015 to a small number of departments who did not fully comply with the requirements of the guidance.

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which news applications staff in her Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Justine Greening: For all devices connected to the DFID network, access to news applications is restricted.

South Sandwich Islands

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department allocated to the South Sandwich Islands in (a) 2014-15 and (b) each of the previous four financial years.

Justine Greening: The Department for International Development has not allocated any funding support to the South Sandwich Islands in 2014-15 or in the previous four financial years.

Armed Conflict

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many experts on the protection of (a) women and (b) children in conflict her Department currently employs.

Justine Greening: Given the central importance of this issue to DFID’s work, it is vitally important that this expertise is embedded in teams across the department.

International Citizen Service

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many people who have completed a placement under the International Citizen Service are (a) female and (b) BAME.

Justine Greening: To date, over 3,500 women and 940 young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds have completed an International Citizen Service placement.

International Citizen Service

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many people have (a) applied for and (b) completed a placement under the International Citizen Service in each year since 2012.

Justine Greening: The following numbers of young people had applied for and completed an International Citizen Service placement up to the end of 2014:   YearUK appliedUKV completed20124,41844620136,4162,009201414,6992,838Total25,5355,293

International Citizen Service

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on advertising for the International Citizen Service in each year since 2012.

Justine Greening: The Department for International Development has not spent any money on advertising for the International Citizen Service (ICS) since 2012.

Humanitarian Aid

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the funding allocated by her Department to alleviate  humanitarian disasters in each year since 2013 (a) remains held by multilateral organisations and (b) is yet to be disbursed.

Justine Greening: In line with UK Government financial regulations, DFID does not make any payments in advance of operational need.

Department for Education

University Technical Colleges

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Chemistry Technical Colleges have been approved since May 2010.

Mr Edward Timpson: Thirty university technical colleges (UTCs) have opened since 2010. A further 31 are in the pipeline.

Sixth Form Education

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what changes have been made to the funding of school sixth forms since 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Boles: School sixth forms used to be funded at a higher rate than colleges. In 2011/12 the Government made a deliberate decision to end this disparity so that, by 2015, schools and colleges would be funded at the same level as each other for similar programmes.   We reduced the funding for enrichment activities for all full-time students in order to protect funding for activities that led to qualifications.   Starting in academic year 2013/14 we moved from a system of funding per qualification to funding per student. Institutions are now funded for, on average, 600 teaching hours per year per full-time student. We put into place formula protection funding until 2015/16 so no provider would lose any funding as a result of the formula change.   From academic year 2014/15, we reduced the funding for 18-year-olds in full-time education. This will apply to all elements of the formula, except the extra support for disadvantaged students without a GCSE grade C or above in English or mathematics, and students with a learning difficulty assessment or a statement of special educational needs.

Priority School Building Programme

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, at how many schools on the Priority School Building Programme has construction work (a) started and (b) been completed.

Mr David Laws: The Priority School Building Programme 1 (PSBP1) is a centrally managed programme set up to address the needs of the schools most in need of urgent repair. Through the programme, 260 schools will be rebuilt or have their condition needs met by the Education Funding Agency.   Under the PSBP1 the Department for Education has now signed construction contracts for 102 schools: construction work has started at 100 schools; and construction work will start imminently at the other 2 schools.   20 schools have now opened in new buildings: at 3 of these schools construction work is complete and at the other 17 schools construction work is continuing to demolish the old dilapidated buildings.

Schools: Buildings

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the original budget was for the Property Data Survey in July 2011; and what the final budget was for that survey after 8,000 additional surveys were included in it.

Mr David Laws: The original budget for the Property Data Survey Programme was £13 million, which was increased to £20 million following the extension of the programme to include 8,000 further surveys.   It had always been the intention to complete school surveys, over time, on the new consistent basis established by the Property Data Survey Programme; this simply brought forward the expenditure from future years’ spend. As a result we have benefited from a consistent database that has been used to allocate maintenance funding to get the best return from the government's investment in the school estate.

Schools: Inspections

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state-funded schools in each local authority area as at 31 August 2010 had received a three or four judgement for pupil behaviour in their most recent Ofsted inspection.

Mr David Laws: As Ofsted is responsible for the requested statistics, I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the Hon Member with the information requested. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House library.

Schools: Inspections

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state-funded schools in each local authority area are currently assessed by Ofsted to be inadequate or require improvement had been assessed to be good or outstanding at their previous inspection.

Mr David Laws: As Ofsted is responsible for the requested statistics, I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the Hon Member with the information requested. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House library.

Children: Suicide

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools to reduce the incidence of suicide.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Where schools have immediate concerns about the risk of suicide, their safeguarding role is set out in our statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education. This emphasises that schools should have a designated senior lead, with responsibility for the handling of safeguarding concerns, in place. Where schools have immediate concerns about the risk of suicide, an immediate referral should be made to children’s social care.   Schools can also play an important role in identifying mental health issues early and ensuring that pupils get support to prevent problems from escalating. One in ten children has a diagnosable mental health disorder and the Government is committed to improving support for these young people. The Department for Education is taking action to tackle the stigma around mental health, promote positive wellbeing, and to ensure pupils have the support and knowledge that they need to keep themselves healthy and safe.   In order to support schools, the Department is publishing new guidance for both primary and secondary schools. This guidance is produced in conjunction with the Personal Social Health and Economic Education Association (PSHE). This will help them to provide age-appropriate teaching on a range of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and self-harm. We are also updating the Mental Health and Behaviour guidance for schools, first published in June 2014[1]. This is to ensure that current advice and guidance on supporting pupils mental health needs is reflected. The guidance helps schools to identify and support those with more severe needs and to make appropriate referrals to specialist mental health services. The ‘Future in Mind’ report, published on 17 March 2015[2], set out a clear set of ambitions for improving access to specialist mental health support for children and young people. Later this year we will be piloting joint training for points of contact in specialist mental health services and schools across 15 Clinical Commissioning Group areas; this will improve knowledge and referrals, so that pupils get the support they need more quickly.   Many schools already provide pupils with access to counselling services, providing children and young people with safe environments where they can discuss problems and receive support. The Department is publishing new guidance for primary and secondary schools on how to deliver good quality school-based counselling services to support their pupils.   The Department knows that children and young people who are persistently bullied are more likely to suffer from poor mental health and emotional wellbeing. It is for this reason that we have made tackling bullying in schools a top priority. All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying. Schools are held to account for their effectiveness by Ofsted.  [1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2.[2] www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-mental-health-services-for-young-people

Academies

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2015 to Question 225406, what estimate she has made of the value of the VAT reimbursed to new (a) academies, (b) free schools and (c) university technical colleges created since 2010.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new (a) academies, (b) free schools, (c) university technical colleges and (d) new school sixth forms that are entitled to VAT reimbursements have been created in each year since 2010.

Mr Edward Timpson: The Department for Education does not hold data on the value of the VAT reimbursed to new academies, free schools and university technical colleges, and has not made an estimate.   All new academies, free schools and university technical colleges are entitled to reimbursement of VAT incurred on their non-business expenditure, under section 22B of the VAT Act 1994. The numbers of each education body created in each year (and which are still open) since 2010 are:2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/2015 (up to 1 March 2015)(a) academies including 16-19 academies8959201059927579(b) free schools023569482(c) university technical colleges1131213   In addition, one new maintained school for 16 to 19 year old students opened in 2010/11 and is entitled to reimbursement of VAT.

Schools: Asbestos

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding was provided to each local authority in 2014 to remove asbestos in schools.

Mr David Laws: In 2014-15 the Department for Education allocated over £650 million to local authorities and their schools in capital funding to be spent on improving the condition of their school buildings. This was in addition to the approximately £750 million in funding we allocated to academies, academy trusts and other schools outside of local authority control for this purpose in 2014-15. Local authorities, academy trusts and schools themselves are best placed to judge when asbestos needs to be removed, or other works are necessary to make it safe, and can use this funding to carry out that work as required.   The department has recently announced £4.2 billion in funding for responsible bodies to spend on improving the condition of their school buildings during 2015-18.

GCE A-level

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the awarding organisations on the number of people needed to mark A Level examinations in summer 2015; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey, to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

Social Services: Children

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the money disbursed from the budget for her Department's Children's Social Care Innovation Programme has been allocated to (a) practice and (b) evaluation of practice funded by that Programme in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15 to date.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the money disbursed from the budget of her Department's Children's Social Care Innovation Programme has been allocated to organisations in the (a) public, (b) private and (c) voluntary sectors in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15 to date.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been disbursed from the budget for her Department's Children's Social Care Innovation Programme in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 to date.

Mr Edward Timpson: The Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme has been open for funding applications since March 2014. Funding from the programme was not available in 2013–14. For 2014-15, a total of £25.23 million has been disbursed to successful projects across the public, private and voluntary sectors: Organisation TypeFunding 2014-15Public£22.36 millionPrivate£1.45 millionVoluntary£1.42 million  £83,000 has been disbursed for central evaluation of the programme in 2014-15. In addition, all successful projects are expected to have an evaluation element. The amount allocated from within project budgets varies between five and ten percent of their total grant amount. The Innovation Programme projects have also been allocated funding for 2015-16. A further £75 million has been committed for this period.

Social Services: Children

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the maximum number of cases in a supervisor's name is that may be allocated to a participant in the Frontline programme without a local authority incurring a financial penalty.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the maximum number of cases in a supervisor's name is that can be allocated to a newly qualified children's social worker.

Mr Edward Timpson: There is no maximum number of cases for allocation to Frontline participants and there are no financial penalties for allocating more than a set number of cases.   Arrangements for social worker case management are at the discretion of the employer. There is no statutory limit on caseloads. Many variables are taken into account, such as levels of demand, capacity of the local authority, capability of the whole workforce and of individual practitioners, level of risk to children, and complexity of social need of families. These variables can change frequently.   Newly qualified social workers are allocated cases but should receive supervision from more experienced social workers. The Local Government Standards for Employers of Social Workers in England set out expectations for employers of social workers, including newly qualified social workers, regarding case load. The guidance is available here: http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/6188796/The+Standards+-+updated+July+01+2014/146988cc-d9c5-4311-97d4-20dfc19397bf

Teachers: Veterans

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many participants in the Troops to Teachers programme have (a) not completed training and (b) dropped out on completion of training.

Mr David Laws: The Troops to Teachers participants are still undertaking their training. The first cohort of trainees began the two year programme in January 2014 and are due to complete their training in December 2015. The second cohort began in September 2015 and will complete their training in August 2016.   A total of nine trainees have withdrawn from the programme, from across both cohorts.

Teachers: Veterans

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) women and (b) BAME people there are in previous cohorts of the Troops to Teachers programme; and what proportion of people in each such category formed the overall participants.

Mr David Laws: There are two cohorts of trainees on the Troops to Teachers programme. There are 8 female trainees in the first cohort and 12 in the second cohort. This is just under a quarter (24%) of the total participants across both cohorts.  No trainees have declared themselves as Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME).

Teachers: Veterans

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average number of months was that recruits in previous cohorts served in the Troops to Teachers programme.

Mr David Laws: The first Troops to Teachers participants are still undertaking their training. The first cohort began training in January 2014, so all of the current trainees have served 14 months on the programme. The second cohort started training in September 2015, therefore current trainees have served 6 months on the programme.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Fisheries: Quotas

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of new fishing quotas agreed under the Common Fisheries Policy.

George Eustice: During negotiations on the reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which came into force in 2014, the UK secured a legally-binding commitment to manage fish stocks at maximum sustainable yield, an end to the wasteful discarding of fish and a new regional decision-making process.   These reforms will safeguard the future of our fish stocks for all who rely on them.

Dangerous Dogs Exemptions Schemes (England and Wales) Order 2015

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy objectives were in introducing the Dangerous Dogs Exemption Schemes (England and Wales) Order 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 138); and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Crawley on 4 March 2015, PQ UIN 225448.

Dogs: Animal Welfare

Miss Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many pieces of legislation affect the control and welfare of dogs; and for how many of those laws her Department produces formal guidance.

George Eustice: There are several pieces of legislation and guidance that affect the control and welfare of all animals, including dogs. It is difficult to be precise about numbers given that apparently unrelated legislation can have an effect on dogs (e.g. hygiene laws).

Reptiles: Imports

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, according to TRACES, how many and what species of reptiles were imported into the UK from (a) within and (b) outside the EU in (i) 2013 and (ii) 2014; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of reptiles that were imported into the EU in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: TRACES does not hold a complete record of reptile imports into the UK because it only records consignments of species that require a CITES certificate.   Movements of reptiles from European Union (EU) Member States to the UK which do not require a CITES certificate are accompanied by a hard copy of the health certificate. However, information about these consignments is not recorded on TRACES.   The figures below refer only to those species for which a CITES licence is required. Third Country totals are not broken down into “families” as this would require each certificate to be interrogated.   ReptilesFrom EU to UK in 2013From EU to UK in 2014From Third Countries to UK in 2013From Third Countries to UK in 2014Rhynchocephalia40  Sauria2022186  Serpentes2893  Testudinata1483035  Crocodylia0307  Total24633531129592101592   The number of reptiles imported into the EU from Third Countries, taken from Eurostat is as follows:   2013- EU Member States imported 1,379,146 live reptiles from outside the EU.   2014- EU Member States imported 1,443,213 live reptiles from outside the EU.

Animal Welfare

Miss Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will estimate the proportion of local authority inspectors appointed under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 who deal with animal welfare issues on a daily basis.

George Eustice: Individual local authorities will hold information on the number of inspectors they have appointed under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and whether they work on animal welfare matters on a daily basis. As this information is not held by Defra it is not possible to provide the estimate requested.

Air Pollution

Mr David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps have been taken to monitor current levels of air pollution from Central and Eastern Europe in the South and East of England.

Dan Rogerson: Defra uses both monitoring and modelling to assess air quality in the UK. Measurement data is updated hourly on our website at:http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk for the 142 automatic monitoring sites across the UK.   While Defra does not monitor air pollution in central and eastern Europe, the UK air quality forecast provided by the Met Office takes account of European emissions and forecast weather conditions.   Defra also operates a network that measures particle numbers, size and composition, providing additional information about sources of particulate pollution. Information is available at: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/networks/network-info?view=particle.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Miss Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received on difficulties in registering land on the Rural Payments Agency system for connection with basic form payments; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: The Secretary of State has spoken with industry bodies and the Rural Payments Agency is now providing extra help for farmers to ensure that all farm businesses can submit their Basic Payment Scheme claims by the deadline.   From Monday 23 March, farmers and their agents can use established forms and processes to complete their claims by the deadline. The RPA will input the data into the core system. All agents will soon have received maps of their clients’ land and those dealing with the most complex cases will be offered additional support. The RPA is also working to give them direct access to the system. If farmers or agents need help they should contact the Rural Payments Agency helpline on 0300 0200 301.

Animal Welfare

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy on self-regulation of the animal establishment licensing industry of the performance of (a) the City of London Corporation and Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association partnership in being the first primary authority scheme to include an inspection plan to cover animal establishments and to be a co-ordinated partnership and (b) other similar recent schemes; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: Partnerships of this kind can make a valuable contribution to improving animal welfare. There are other examples where industry, animal welfare or animal keeping representative groups have provided local authorities with advice or training in relation to animal welfare work. We are pleased that this particular industry is working closely with local authorities, and the City of London specifically, to improve the quality of inspections and look forward to seeing welfare improvements as a consequence.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Wind Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much onshore wind capacity (a) received planning approval and (b) was rejected in each month in 2014; and how many planning applications for onshore wind farms were (i) approved and (ii) rejected in each such month.

Amber Rudd: Holding answer received on 16 March 2015



The table below sets out the number and capacity of onshore wind projects that received or were refused planning permission in each month of 2014:  ApprovedRefused NoCap MW)NoCap (MW)Jan-149219528Feb-145828103Mar-14230258Apr-14771678May-14621612196Jun-1463038125Jul-1493357142Aug-143156146Sep-1472145169Oct-1438811113Nov-14480960Dec-14912710122Totals701,779891,337The data is compiled from the January 2015 edition of the Renewable Energy Planning Database, which is published on DECC.GOV and updated monthly. This tracks the progress of renewable electricity projects with a capacity of 1MW or greater from submission of a planning application through to determination and generation. The approved projects include a number of projects that were granted planning consent on appeal. Some of the refused projects may be awaiting the outcome of appeals.

Carbon Emissions

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of how much cavity wall insulation has contributed to reduction of carbon dioxide emissions according to the Kyoto agreement protocols in each year since 2010.

Amber Rudd: The Department does not measure carbon savings per year from individual types of energy efficiency measure across the UK.However, estimated carbon savings from energy efficiency policies are reported in our Updated Emissions Projections, which can be found on the government’s website:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-and-emissions-projections”Breakdown of the estimated number of UK dwelling insulated each year from 2010:From : https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/green-deal-and-energy-company-obligation-eco-statistics#quarterly-statistics Year Number of cavity wall installationsApril 2010 to March 2011600,000*April 2011 to March 2012660,000*April 2012 to March 2013610,000*April 2013 to March 2014400,000*The March 2015 cavity wall insulation installation statistics are still to be calculated *This includes delivery through Government schemes and new build properties.

Pay

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many and what proportion of staff (a) of his Department and (b) working for companies contracted by his Department in Scotland are paid less than the living wage.

Amber Rudd: I can confirm that none of the Department's staff or staff working for companies contracted by the Department are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Staff

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many and what proportion of employees in his Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.

Amber Rudd: As at 28 February 2015, the number and proportion of civil servants working for Department of Energy & Climate Change had made diversity declarations as set out below:(a) White or White British – 971 (62%);(b) Asian or Asian British – 80 (5%);(c) Black or Black British – 47 (3%);(d) Mixed or multiple ethnic group – 28 (2%);(e) Another ethnicity – less than 10 (less than 1%);(f) People who prefer not to say or have made no declaration – 432 (27%).

Wind Power

Mr John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average output was of wind energy in the UK, expressed as a proportion of installed capacity, in the last three months.

Amber Rudd: DECC produces figures on the output and installed capacity of wind energy on a quarterly basis. Data for quarter 4 2014 will be available on 26 March 2015.Source: Energy Trends, December 2014, table ET 6.1, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables.

Electricity Generation

Mr John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average cost is before subsidy or tax of producing UK electricity from (a) gas and (b) wind.

Matthew Hancock: DECC publishes estimates for the levelised costs of electricity generation for different technologies. The most recent estimates are available in the DECC Electricity Generation Costs (December 2013) report, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269888/131217_Electricity_Generation_costs_report_December_2013_Final.pdf.

Electricity Generation

Mr John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much new gas-based electricity production capacity has been authorised; and how much such capacity is in build.

Matthew Hancock: 19,790MW of gas-fired generating capacity currently has development consent, including 1,000MW consented by the Scottish Government. An additional 860MW is currently under construction.

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which news applications staff in his Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Amber Rudd: The DECC work phone is provided with the standard preloaded news application, which is available by default. No other news applications are authorised.No news application is authorised for DECC supplied tablets.

Wind Power: Wales

Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what amount the National Grid is expected to spend on (a) preparatory, (b) consultancy, (c) construction and (d) all other costs for connecting wind farms in mid-Wales with the grid in North Shropshire.

Matthew Hancock: National Grid’s proposals for the Mid-Wales connection are still in development, but it currently estimates that the new connection may cost £360m to £400m. National Grid’s costs are regulated by Ofgem to ensure they are justified and efficient.

Public Buildings: Energy

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Display Energy Certificates in reducing the energy costs and improving the energy efficiency of public buildings.

Amber Rudd: The Department has made no formal assessment of the impact of Display Energy Certificates (DECs).However statistical analysis has suggested that that overall Operational Ratings and energy consumption have fallen for public sector buildings with DECs.

Energy: Conservation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the (a) scope and (b) findings were of research commissioned by his Department into unintended consequences of energy efficiency refurbishments; and if he will make a statement.

Amber Rudd: The Department for Energy and Climate Change has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Deputy Prime Minister

ICT: North of England

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, when he plans to publish the business plan for Tech North.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what remit Tech North will have to work with existing business infrastructure in the North.

Greg Clark: TechNorth works closely with a range of partners representative of the local digital business infrastructure, including entrepreneurs and investors from digital clusters in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Hull and the North East cluster (Newcastle, Sunderland and Tees Valley). The TechNorth team will coordinate the existing support and expertise across the region as part of Tech City UK's nationwide objectives, to:- drive the success of digital entrepreneurs by improving the supply of (and removing barriers to) skills, talent, investment and infrastructure and- drive the success of the digital ecosystem and increased connectivity across the UK. Tech City UK is concluding the process of recruitment for the new Head of TechNorth and other senior roles. Once the senior team is in place it will develop a detailed business plan by June 2015, working with the northern tech community.

Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Members: Travel

Chi Onwurah: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what assessment the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has made of the effect on total spend on hon. Members' travel of the discontinuation of the East Coast Rewards Scheme.

Mr Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.Letter from Marcial Boo, March 2015:As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking about travel expenditure.IPSA has not made an assessment of the effects of the discontinuation of the East Coast Rewards Scheme. We will continue to reimburse the costs of travel necessarily incurred for the performance of MPs’ parliamentary functions, in accordance with the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses.

Attorney General

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney General, which news applications staff in the Law Officers Departments are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Jeremy Wright: Staff in the Law Officers’ Departments who use work provided phones or tablets are not authorised to download and use any news applications.

Wales Office

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many staff in his Department were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Alun Cairns: The only staff engaged off-payroll are from an agency. The average numbers, in each of the last five years, are listed below:  2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-1511146

ICT

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, which news applications staff in his Department are authorised to download and use on their work-provided phones and tablets.

Alun Cairns: As Wales Office staff do not have work-provided tablets or smartphones, they are unable to access news applications. However, staff can access any news websites on the internet that are not blocked by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) who supply our IT equipment.

Staff

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many and what proportion of employees in his Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.

Alun Cairns: The numbers of staff at the Wales Office who identify with the ethnic groupings listed are shown in the table below:  (a) white or white British(b) Asian or Asian British(c) Black or Black British(d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and(e) another ethnicityNotStated/ disclosed26****13*In accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines, the Wales Office does not disclose information relating to five or fewer members of staff.

Advertising

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department spent on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) national newspaper advertisements, (d) local newspaper advertisements, (e) social media advertising and (f) other types of advertising in each year since 2010.

Alun Cairns: I refer the Honourable gentleman to the reply given by my Rt Honourable friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 17 March 2015 to question 227295.

Ministry of Justice

Burglary

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, at which courts people with 15 or more previous convictions were not sent to prison on conviction for burglary in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mike Penning: Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent judiciary, taking account of the circumstances of the case and the maximum penalty for the offence. But when sentencing an offender the courts must treat recent and relevant previous convictions as an aggravating factor. There is also a mandatory minimum sentence of three years’ imprisonment for a third conviction for domestic burglary. The sentencing guideline for burglary aims to ensure that the effect on victims is at the centre of considerations about what sentence each offender should receive. The average custodial sentence length for domestic burglary has increased from 21.4 months in 2009 to 23.6 months in 2013.This Government is committed to strengthening sentences, so that they combine both punishment and requirements that are effective at preventing further offending. We are transforming rehabilitation, by bringing together the best of the public, private and voluntary sectors, and only rewarding them when they actually do reduce re-offending.During the 12 months ending June 2014, all local justice areas sentenced at least one offender with 15 or more previous convictions to a sentence that did not entail immediate custody for their latest conviction of a burglary offence.

Prisons: Drugs

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drug seizures were made in each West Midlands prison in the last five years.

Andrew Selous: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of all contraband in prisons extremely seriously and deploys a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. We do not tolerate drugs in prison and anyone caught with them will be punished and could face further prosecution. The number of finds of drug seizures is provided in table 1. This table provides management information on drug seizures, counting a find of each drug type as one seizure. As these data have come from administrative systems they are subject to the issues inherent in any large scale administrative system, although every effort is made to record data accurately. This data has not been quality assured to the standards required of official statistics. Table 1: Number of drug seizures in West Midlands prison and YOI establishments, 2009/10 to 2013/14 2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/14 Birmingham92245101 Brinsford30152155 Dovegate417074122135 Drake Hall611412 Featherstone2927556865 Hewell12211113310865 Oakwood---23111 Shrewsbury28122- Stafford3321572015 Stoke Heath23872512 Swinfen Hall39720 Werrington1001- Key:‘-‘ Establishment not operational Notes on table: 1. This table counts a seizure of each drug type as one seizure. As more than one drug type can be found in each drug incident, the number of incidents where drugs were seized may be lower than counts of seizures by drug type.2. Table provides management information from administrative systems. This data has not been quality assured to standards required of official statistics.  Prisons already use a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband with intelligence-led searches, body searches, use of x-ray machines, metal detectors and CCTV surveillance cameras, as well as body orifice scanners all helping to tackle the use of mobile phones.Increases in the above figures can be attributed to a number of different factors including management changes, leading to new data recording practices and introduction of new measures to combat drugs. An increase in searches and intelligence-gathering, including increased detection of New Psychoactive substances, has lead to higher detection rates. Recently, prison governors received new guidance from the Ministry of Justice which sets out clearly for the first time the measures available to them to deal with the growing problem of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS /‘legal highs’). This reinforces the prison estate’s zero tolerance approach to contraband.

Prison Service

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times a governor has granted sick absence excusal to staff in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous: Information on the number of Sick Excusals is provides in the table below: Table: Number of Sick Excusals provided in Public Sector Prisons in England and Wales, 2009/10 - 2013/14 YearNumber of Sick Excusals2009/101,2482010/112,0392011/121,8242012/131,6192013/141,918Note: Figures have been compiled on the basis of start of sickness absence.

Prisons: Restraint Techniques

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of use of force resulted in (a) minor and (b) serious injuries in each private prison in England and Wales in each year since 2010.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of use of force there were in each private prison in England and Wales in each year since 2010.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been transferred to an external hospital following an incident of use of force in each private prison in England and Wales in each year since 2010.

Andrew Selous: The number of violent criminals in our prisons has increased by 40% in the past 10 years. A specialised system of restraint known as control and restraint (C&R) has been developed over many years to ensure that prisoners can be controlled with minimum risk of injury to staff or prisoners. C&R is a system of techniques used by a team of three officers as a last resort to bring a violent or refractory prisoner under control. Wherever possible staff should avoid the use of force and de-escalate the situation by persuasion or negotiation; if the techniques are applied then they are used for as short a time as possible. Healthcare staff examine all prisoners on whom force has been used. Violence in prisons is not tolerated; and assaults on our hardworking staff are unacceptable. That is why we have introduced a new protocol establishing that when there are serious assaults on prison staff, the perpetrators must be prosecuted unless there is a good reason why not. This will ensure that prisoners who attack staff are prosecuted and fully brought to justice. It will mean that more of the prisoners who assault staff will spend longer behind bars. All prisons submit a central monthly return providing the number of times force has been used in the prison with details of any injuries sustained. Central data identifies the number of individuals injured rather than the number of incidents where an injury occurred . Use of force incidents may involve multiple prisoners, for example, force used to separate a fight. To identify the number of incidents would require manual interrogation of use of force documentation held at establishments and could only be achieved at disproportionate cost. Central data only records whether an injury resulted in hospitalisation or not. To identify if the injuries sustained were minor or serious would also require manual interrogation of use of force documentation held at establishments and could only be achieved at disproportionate cost. The table below provides details of the number of prisoners hospitalised following an incident where force was used in contracted prisons.  Prisoners requiring hospitalisation following use of force, by year and establishment Establishment20102011201220132014Altcourse0001032Ashfield01300Birmingham211129Bronzefield00015Doncaster0201010Dovegate20128Forest Bank00002Lowdham Grange00083Northumberland--042Oakwood--117Parc01018Peterborough01434Rye Hill20036Thameside--0112TOTAL 662046108  Note to tables:1. “-“ denotes note applicable2. HMP Ashfield re-rolled from a Young Offender Institution to adult male category C prison in May 2013.3. G4S took responsibility for HMP Birmingham October 2011. Figures provided are for the full calendar year.4. Sodexo took responsibility for HMP Northumberland in December 2013. Figures provided are for the full calendar year.5. HMP Oakwood opened in April 20126. HMP Thameside opened in March 20127. These figures are derived from monthly aggregated Use of Force returns from each prison.A new system for collecting this data was introduced in late 2013 and data recording is likely to have improved. Care should therefore be taken when comparing changes over time.

First-tier Tribunal: West Midlands

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the time taken for appeals to be heard at First Tier Tribunals in the West Midlands in the last two years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice publishes official statistics on the operation of HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) including the time taken for appeals to be cleared for a number of Tribunals. These statistics are published on a quarterly basis and the most recent official statistical publication (covering the period up to the end of December 2014) can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/411604/Tribunal-GRC-statistics-quarterly-oct-dec-2014.pdf. HMCTS hears appeals within the two tier tribunal structure at a number of venues. The largest two First-tier Tribunals are the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) and the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC) which hear appeals in venues across the UK. The table below shows the average time taken in weeks from receipt of a case to the first hearing in 2013 and 2014 at venues in the West Midlands for SSCS and IAC. Timeliness in WeeksFrom Receipt to First hearingTribunalPeriod 20132014Immigration and Asylum2224Social Security and Child Support2321

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in his Department and its executive agencies and associated bodies were engaged off-payroll in each of the last five years up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Workforce information including off-payroll staff (agency staff, interim managers, contractors and consultants) for the Ministry of Justice, its agencies and executive non-departmental public bodies is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/workforce-management-information-mojInformation prior to March 2011 is not held by the department.

Kingston Prison

Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much was raised by his Department from the sale of the former Kingston Prison site in Portsmouth.

Andrew Selous: We are replacing older accommodation that is expensive to run with newer, cheaper and more efficient accommodation as part of our drive to modernise the prison estate and deliver value for money. The portfolio of four former prisons – Dorchester, Gloucester, Kingston and Shepton Mallet – was sold for £5million. We worked with a number of organisations, including the local authorities and English Heritage, to ensure best value for the taxpayer from the sale. The sale of these properties will contribute significantly to our target of raising up to £300m from the disposal of surplus assets in this Spending Review period.

Probation: Temporary Employment

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Probation Service has spent on agency staff in each month of the last five years.

Andrew Selous: Agency staff may be used to fill business-critical posts and support essential front-line services, where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. The requested information has not been collated centrally and obtaining it would involve a detailed analysis of archived probation trust data. This would be a significant exercise and could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Probation: Temporary Employment

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department issues on the use of agency staff by the Probation Service.

Andrew Selous: In appropriate circumstances, the National Probation Service may use agency staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. Guidance on use of agency staff by the National Probation Service is contained in a number of documents, including Probation Instructions relating to vetting and authorisation procedures.

Offences against Children

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government has taken to protect children from a parent who has been convicted of child sexual abuse.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what provisions are in place to support the non-abusing parent of a child who has a parent convicted of child sexual abuse; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of those provisions.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the merits of restricting the access of parents who have been convicted of sexually abusing a child to their own children.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures to protect children from a parent who has been convicted of child sexual abuse.

Simon Hughes: The Government takes very seriously the need to protect children at risk of harm from their parents. The Government is also aware of the concerns regarding the exercise of parental responsibility by a parent who has been convicted of sexual abuse of a child. Under the Children Act 1989, parents and guardians, as well as others who are entitled, can apply to a family court for a section 8 order in cases where a question arises in relation to the welfare of a child. These orders include prohibited steps orders and specific issue orders to restrict the exercise of parental responsibility. The court can also make child arrangements orders with provisions to protect a child, perhaps by providing for ‘no contact’ with a parent where this is considered to be in the best interests of the child. The Government believes that these provisions provide good protection for children where a parent has been convicted of child abuse, including abuse of the child concerned, but we always keep the law and the practice in this area under review and are very conscious of the need to have the maximum possible protection of children and young people at all times.

Internet Service Providers

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations his Department has received from internet service providers on safe harbour provisions.

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on protecting safe harbour provisions and online service providers.

Simon Hughes: The Safe Harbour negotiations are on-going between the EU and the US. The UK is keen to uphold the Safe Harbour principles and for these negotiations to reach a swift and mutually acceptable conclusion. I am always interested in the views of stakeholder groups on this and other data protection issues.

Employment Tribunals Service

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 227352, if he will publish the data collected on protected characteristics for people making Employment Tribunal Service claims for each quarter from October 2012.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Experimental statistics on Employment Tribunal (ET) fees data taken from the administrative IT system built to process fee receipts and remission applications, were published for the first time on 12 March 2015, as an Annex to the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly, October to December 2014 publication. It is our intention to publish them on a quarterly basis from this point forward subject to further data quality work. Due to the experimental nature of the statistics, the publication stated that additional analyses will be carried out to assess their quality and that of the administrative system the data are extracted from. Information on protected characteristics is collected by this employment tribunal fee and remission IT system. Subject to the results of data cleansing and quality assurance work to assess its coverage, robustness and usefulness, figures on protected characteristics will be included in future publications in due course.

Prisons: Drugs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there were of drugs being found in HM Prison (a) Belmarsh, (b) Feltham, (c) Isis, (d) Pentonville, (e) Thameside, (f) Wandsworth and (g) Wormwood Scrubs in each year from 2010 to 2014.

Andrew Selous: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of all contraband in prisons extremely seriously and deploys a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. We do not tolerate drugs in prison and anyone caught with them will be punished and could face further prosecution. There is growing evidence that there has been an increase in smuggling of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) into prisons. We have already announced a series of measures to crack down on this and will ensure Governors have the powers and support they need to tackle it. In addition the Justice Secretary announced last week that NOMS will continue to invest in new technology, such as bodyscanners, to stop drugs getting into prisons. The number of finds in each prison establishment for the calendar years 2010 through to 2014 is shown in the table below. Table 1: Reported incidents of where a drug was found (1) 20102011201220132014Belmarsh159934Feltham812191211Isis (2)0671015Pentonville51874641101Thameside (3)--18113110Wandsworth3772511Wormwood Scrubs2949316053Source: National Offender Management Service NOMIS IRS Key: ‘-‘ Establishment not operational Notes on table:(1) The table shows the number of reported incidents where a drug was declared to be found. More than one type of drug may be found in any one incident.(2) Isis opened in July 2010(3) Thameside opened in March 2012 All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.

Electronic Tagging

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were tagged using GPS tagging technology on 1 March 2015.

Andrew Selous: On 1 March 2015 there were nine individuals subject to GPS tagging. The programme to mobilise the contracts for the next generation of GPS tagging has begun. Testing of these tags in an operational setting is already underway. This will allow for greater use of this technology.

Data Protection

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints relating to data protection breaches were upheld by the Information Commissioner in each of the last five years.

Simon Hughes: The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is enforced independently of Government by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and they have provided the data below. The table details the number of data protection concerns reported to the ICO for each of the last five financial years (and for this financial year to date) and finished in that year. It also shows the percentage of those cases in which compliance with the DPA was thought unlikely, in accordance with section 42(1) of the DPA. This provides a duty for the ICO to make an assessment, if asked, as to whether it is likely or unlikely that the processing of personal data has been or is being carried out in compliance with the provisions of the DPA. Before 2011/12, data was not collected separately for requests for advice and reported concerns. Therefore, the figures for 2009/10 and 2010/11 cover both advice and concerns, and the figures for 2011/12 onwards cover concerns only. Financial yearTotal data protection casework finishedICO assessment of % of unlikely compliance with DPA2009/1032,71419%2010/1129,68523%2011/1212,72531%2012/1314,04235%2013/1415,49234%2014/1514,32732%

Prisoners: Crimes of Violence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults by prisoners on other prisoners there were in each of the last five years.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults by prisoners on prison officers there were in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously. A new joint protocol produced by NOMS, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers was introduced on 27 February 2015. This puts robust and consistent arrangements in place to ensure that wherever possible, assaults on prison staff will be referred to the police for investigation, and will be prosecuted through the courts. The following table provides figures England and Wales for (i) prisoner on prisoner and (ii) prisoner on prison officer assaults, for each of the last five years. 20092010201120122013Prisoner On Prisoner12,14811,24412,31611,58410,996Prisoner On Prison Officer2,6422,3692,6812,6362,731

Fines: Surcharges

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the value was of the victims' surcharge (a) imposed, (b) collected, (c) cancelled and (d) outstanding for (i) adults, (ii) youths and (iii) organisations in each financial year since 2010.

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the victims' surcharge has been (a) imposed, (b) collected, (c) cancelled and (d) outstanding for people receiving a (i) conditional discharge, (ii) fine, (iii) suspended sentence, (iv) community sentence and (v) custodial sentence in each financial year since 2010.

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cumulative total is of (a) uncollected and (b) cancelled victims' surcharges.

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been (a) imposed, (b) collected, (c) cancelled and (d) outstanding under the victims' surcharge in each financial year since 2010.

Mike Penning: This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace those who do not pay. The amount of money collected has risen year on year since 2012, and reached an all time high of £290 million at the end of 2013/14 and collections continue to rise. The victim surcharge is an ancillary order made by the court when it sentences an offender. Revenue from the surcharge is ring fenced for victim services and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) distributes this through grants to Police and Crime Commissioners and centrally managed national victim services. The Government set out its commitment to ensure offenders contribute more to the cost of victim support services and from October 2012 the victim surcharge on fines was increased and extended to a wider range of court disposals with the amount payable dependant on the seriousness of the sentence. The table below shows the value of all victim surcharge orders made in each financial year since 2011/12 along with the amount of those impositions that were collected or cancelled in the same year of imposition and the amount that remained outstanding at the end of that year. This data is only available from 2011-12 onwards.YearValue imposedValue collected in year of impositionValue cancelled in year of impositionValue outstanding at end of year of imposition2011/12£12,199,956£6,810,532£645,381£4,744,0432012/13£15,508,307£7,607,886£888,027£7,012,3952013/14£33,726,535£15,343,460£2,265,389£16,117,686 It is not possible to provide the figures above separated by adults, youths and organisations without carrying out a manual search of all victim surcharge accounts. It is not possible to identify how many times the victim surcharge has been imposed, collected, cancelled and outstanding by the type of sentences. The Ministry of Justice does not collate the information in the manner requested and could only be obtained by undertaking a manual search of all financial accounts which would incur disproportionate cost. The Ministry of Justice holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales but not the specific circumstances of each case. This also does not include details of the amount of victim surcharge imposed for the majority of cases. Below is a link to our most recent statistics. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/343330/sentencing-tables.xls  The total value of victim surcharge impositions outstanding, regardless of imposition date, at the end of 2013/14 was £21,110,000. The ‘value outstanding’ figures includes accounts that were not due to be paid by the end of the period specified (either because they were imposed close to the end of the year or because they had payment timescales set by the courts for beyond the end of the financial year) and those that were being paid by instalments on agreed payment plans. Outstanding balances of victim surcharge impositions can also relate to amounts imposed on offenders who have also been given a custodial sentence and the victim surcharge cannot be enforced until they are released. The value cancelled includes both administrative and legal cancellations. It is not possible to split the figures between the two types of cancellation. Administrative cancellations only take place in certain circumstances and after all attempts to collect the amount outstanding have been made. These circumstances include where the offender has died, where they have emigrated with no prospect of return, where the offender has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for 12 months or more or where the offender cannot be traced and there has been a least 12 months from the point of imposition. It should be noted that administrative cancellations can be re-instated if the prospects of recovery improve (where, for example, a new address is found). Legal cancellations occur after the case has been reconsidered by a judge or magistrate and further evidence has been presented. Legal cancellations can be as a result of a successful appeal, a change in financial circumstances of the offender or a committal to prison for non payment.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners there are in UK prisons from each of the 10 countries with the largest number of nationals in UK prisons.

Andrew Selous: Foreign national offenders who have no right to remain in the UK should be removed at the earliest opportunity and the Government has toughened the system, including by pursuing compulsory transfer agreements with European countries. 23,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010 and more than 600 under the 'deport first, appeal later' provisions, with many more being processed through the system. The grounds on which criminals can appeal against deportation have been cut. Data on the number of foreign national prisoners in prisons in England and Wales is published in the Ministry of Justice’s quarterly population tables, which can be accessed via the following web link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2014 Table 1.8 of the document entitled Prison population: 31 December 2013 to 31 December 2014 gives a breakdown of the England and Wales population as of 31 December 2014 by country of nationality. The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide data on the number of foreign nationals held in prisons in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners (a) by nationality and (b) of no known country of origin were held in prisons in England and Wales on 31 December 2014.

Andrew Selous: Foreign national offenders who have no right to remain in the UK should be removed at the earliest opportunity and the Government has toughened the system, including by pursuing compulsory transfer agreements with European countries. In addition, 23,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010 and more than 600 under the 'deport first, appeal later' provisions, with many more being processed through the system. The grounds on which criminals can appeal against deportation have been cut. Data on the number of foreign national prisoners in prisons in England and Wales is published in the Ministry of Justice’s quarterly population tables, which can be accessed via the following web link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2014 Table 1.8 of the document entitled Prison population: 31 December 2013 to 31 December 2014 gives a breakdown of the England and Wales population as of 31 December 2014 by country of nationality, and includes the number for whom nationality was not recorded.

Prisoners: Repatriation

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost is to the public purse of repatriating a foreign national prisoner; and how many such prisoners have been repatriated since 2010.

Andrew Selous: Foreign national offenders who have no right to remain in the UK should be removed at the earliest opportunity and the Government has toughened the system including compulsory transfer agreements with European countries. In addition, 23,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010 and more than 600 under the 'deport first, appeal later' provisions, with many more being processed through the system. The grounds on which criminals can appeal against deportation have been cut. Since 2010, there have been 206 foreign national prisoners transferred from prisons in England and Wales to prisons in their country of nationality in order to serve the remainder of their sentence there. The average cost of these transfers was approximately £1,640. This figure includes all the elements of an escort, including staff costs, travel and subsistence, vehicle costs, flights, and any accommodation that might be required by staff prior to their return journey. Following a prisoner’s transfer to another state, that receiving state will bear the costs of their continued detention until release.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national prisoners there are in England and Wales by (a) country and (b) security category of each prison.

Andrew Selous: Foreign national offenders who have no right to remain in the UK should be removed at the earliest opportunity and the Government has toughened the system, including by pursuing compulsory transfer agreements with European countries. In addition, 23,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010 and more than 600 under the 'deport first, appeal later' provisions, with many more being processed through the system. The grounds on which criminals can appeal against deportation have been cut. Data on the number of foreign national prisoners in prisons in England and Wales is published in the Ministry of Justice’s quarterly population tables, which can be accessed via the following web link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2014 Table 1.8 of the document entitled Prison population: 31 December 2013 to 31 December 2014 gives a breakdown of the England and Wales population as of 31 December 2014 by country of nationality. The table below provides a breakdown of the foreign national prisoner population by the category and/or type of prison in which they are held. It should be noted however, that not all prisoners will be of the same security category as the establishment in which they are held. Prisoners with a lower security categorisation may be held in a prison with a higher security designation. Foreign National prison population as at 31 December 2014 by prison category, England and WalesPrison Category(1)Foreign National population as at 31 Dec 14Local3,813High Security815Category B Trainer778Category C Trainer2,882Open80Female open6Female closed499YJB/YOI333IRC1,297Total10,503(1) Prisons have been categorised by their predominant function but may have secondary functions. For example, the YJB/YOI category may include some young adults. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what offences the foreign nationals in prison in England and Wales were convicted on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Andrew Selous: Foreign national offenders who have no right to remain in the UK should be removed at the earliest opportunity and the Government has toughened the system, including pursuing compulsory transfer agreements with European countries. In addition, 23,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010 and more than 600 under the 'deport first, appeal later' provisions, with many more being processed through the system. The grounds on which criminals can appeal against deportation have been cut. The table below details the offence types for the sentenced prison population in England and Wales, as of 31 December 2014. It also provides a breakdown to indicate whether the offender was a foreign national, a UK national, or nationality not recorded. As the table records only sentenced prisoners, it does not include remand prisoners, fine defaulters, civil prisoners or recalled prisoners. Sentenced(1) prison population by offence type and nationality 31 December 2014 Foreign NationalUK NationalNot RecordedAllViolence against the person1,65716,0893017,776Sexual offences1,0359,9332310,991Robbery5276,60977,143Burglary4007,19797,606Theft and handling3412,891173,249Fraud and forgery2891,039111,339Drug offences1,1928,588279,807Motoring offences886476741Other offences8195,699346,552Offence not recorded2517349247All6,37358,86521365,451

Prisoners: Childbirth

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many babies were born to women in prison in each year since 2010.

Andrew Selous: Information on the number of women who have given birth in prison is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. To provide this information, a manual search of every female prisoner’s record would be required.

Cabinet Office

Training

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2014 to Question 218376, if he will include digital or other technical skills in the Major Projects Academy Leadership course.

Mr Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 19 March 2015 to UIN: 227617

Electronic Government

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 227063, whether the Government Digital Service plans for the sixteen exemplars currently in beta show as going live by the end of March 2015.

Mr Francis Maude: In addition to the information at: https://www.gov.uk/transformation, further information can be found at https://digitaltransformation.blog.gov.uk/

Public Sector: Staff

Mr John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people were employed in the public sector in (a) May 2010 and (b) December 2014.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - Employment in Public Sector
(PDF Document, 97.37 KB)

New Businesses: Pendle

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many new business start-ups by women there were in Pendle constituency in each of the last five years.

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many new business start-ups there have been in (a) Pendle constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West since May 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - New Business Start-Ups
(PDF Document, 101.02 KB)

Child Sexual Abuse Independent Panel Inquiry

John Mann: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what instructions and guidance his Department has given to other Government departments on the destruction of paper and electronic records potentially relevant to the Independent Panel inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse; and whether that guidance is in line with the provisions of the Inquiries Act 2005 on the production of evidence.

Mr Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office has in place a process for reviewing its files scheduled for destruction, and has a moratorium in place on the destruction of potentially relevant files. My officials have contacted Departmental Records Officers’ to ensure that they have similar processes in place.

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Gambling: Young People

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he last met representatives of the gambling industries to discuss the practice of offering free bets to young adults and the inclusion of messages regretting that they had not gambled in a while.

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he last met representatives of the gambling industries to discuss the offering of free bets to 18 year olds on their birthdays.

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he last met representatives of Gamblers Anonymous to discuss the industry practice of offering free bets to young adults and the inclusion of messages regretting that they had not gambled in a while.

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he last met representatives of Gamblers Anonymous to discuss the industry practice of offering free bets to 18 year olds on their birthdays.

Mrs Helen Grant: Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the gov.uk website and are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords=&%20publication_filter_option=transparency-data&topics%5B%5D%20=all&departments%5B%5D=department-for-culture-media-sport&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B%5D%20=all&from_date=&to_date

Horse Racing: Betting

Sir Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what timetable he has set for introducing the new horse race betting right; what assessment he has made of the potential benefits that betting right will bring to York Racecourse; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Helen Grant: No timetable has been set for introducing legislation to bring in a new Horserace Betting Right. Draft legislation will be developed following a thorough economic analysis and discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority, HMRC and others.The Horserace Betting Right will apply to all bookmakers, wherever located, who take bets from British customers on British racing and provides a modern and sustainable future for the funding of racing.The flagship race at York Racecourse, the Group 1 Juddmonte International, has recently been confirmed as the best race in the world by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. The Horserace Betting Right will allow York Racecourse, and every racecourse across Britain, to build upon current successes and continue to offer a great experience for racegoers.

Local Press: Tax Allowances

Sir Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assistance he plans to provide through tax support to (a) local newspapers in general, (b) the York Press, Yorkshire Post and Northern Echo and (c) other local newspapers; what his timetable is for introducing such support; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government will consult on whether to introduce a business rates relief for all local newspapers in England to help them adapt to new technology and changing circumstances. Officials are now working on this and would welcome views from the sector and all interested parties to inform their work. The consultation will be published as soon as is practically possible.

Mobile Phones: Radio Frequencies

Sir Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the £600 million announced in Budget 2015 to support the delivery of the change of use of 700Mhz spectrum includes provision to assist and compensate users of existing equipment in the programme making and special events sector.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Up to £600m will be made available to support the change of use of 700 MHz spectrum. This money is intended to cover all the costs of the programme. If any provision were to be made for users of existing equipment in the programme making and special events sector, it would be from within this budget.

House of Commons Commission

Recycling

Dame Joan Ruddock: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, when the Commission plans to introduce recycling for DVDs and CDs.

John Thurso: There are currently no plans to introduce dedicated recycling facilities for DVDs and CDs. However, we continue to review Parliament’s waste recycling and recovery arrangements as part of our objective to move waste streams up the waste hierarchy.